BuildFax, the Online Source for National Commercial and Residential Permit Information, Secures $13M in Funding Led by DMGI
New Funds Will Fuel Accelerated Growth of BuildFax
B2B and Home Investor Offerings in 2011
AUSTIN, TX – June 9, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — BuildFax, a division of BUILDERadius, today announced that it has successfully closed a new $4 million round of funding, led by DMGI and with the support of Environmental Data Resources Inc. (EDR) which is wholly owned by DMG Information Inc., the business information division of Daily Mail and General Trust, plc. Today’s round of funding follows a $9 million investment by the same group in 2009, bringing the total amount of funding for BuildFax to $13 million.
“We are empowered by our investors’ continued commitment to our business, as demonstrated by their on-going financial support of our growth. As we have achieved each milestone, our investors have continued to fund our efforts to put the best information in the hands of our customers as they evaluate property,” said Holly Tachovsky, President, BuildFax. “The funds raised today will enable us to meet the ever growing demand for BuildFax, as the company’s data continues to become the standard for all professionals in the real-estate business, be it the insurer, mortgage holder, appraiser, inspector or the home investor. Our mission is to ensure that everyone has the right information at their fingertips for smart decision making on real estate property.”
“BuildFax is delivering game-changing data for the real property industry and DMGI is excited to be a part of this growing business,” said Paul Sykes, CFO of DMGI. “BuildFax is taking this massive store of property data and turning it into actionable intelligence for the entire real estate eco-system.”
“We feel confident that BuildFax will become an industry standard in the real estate marketplace,” says Rob Barber, CEO of EDR.
Using $9 million in capital previously raised in 2009 by the same group of investors, BuildFax has secured a leadership position in the market as the only online source for national commercial and residential permit information and has had a year of extraordinary growth with the expansion of their coverage model which currently covers over 60 percent of the U.S. commercial and residential building stock with more than six billion data points. In addition, BuildFax has created distribution partnerships with DataVerify, DISCERN, e2Value, Equifax and RMS. In 2010, BuildFax established a number of confidential relationships to begin test deployments with a majority of the leading insurance and banking companies in the United States.
Finally, furthering their leadership position in the marketplace, BuildFax recently launched a subscription-based BuildFax Remodeling Index (BFRI). The BFRI is the only source directly reporting residential remodeling activity across the nation. The monthly information, derived through related building permit activity filed with local building departments across the country, reports trends in remodeling activity for the entire United States, as well as for the four major regions of the country: Northeast, South, Midwest, and West. The monthly report provides month-over-month and year-over-year comparisons for the entire nation and the four regions included in the index.
About BuildFax (www.buildfax.com):
BuildFax, a division of BUILDERadius, is the creator of the first and only national database of historical building permit data. Co-headquartered in Austin, Texas and Asheville, North Carolina, BuildFax has created a proprietary property intelligence engine that contains building and permitting information from 4,000+ cities and counties throughout the country. To date, companies in the insurance, financial services, inspection, and appraisal industry as well as buyers and sellers of property are actively using BuildFax data in their assessment and decision-making. As the best and only source of a structure’s “life story”, the BuildFax database continues to grow, currently covering over 60 percent of the U.S. commercial and residential building stock with 6 billion data points.
About EDR:
Environmental Data Resources Inc. (EDR) is the leading national provider of environmental information services in the United States. As the innovator of the most comprehensive and accurate database of environmental and historical land use information, the company provides reports, subscription services and other solutions to help its customers assess and manage environmental risk. EDR customers include commercial and residential real estate professionals, environmental consultants, lenders, corporations, attorneys and government agencies. Established in 1991, EDR is headquartered in Milford, Connecticut with regional offices located throughout the United States. EDR is wholly owned by DMG Information Inc., the business information division of Daily Mail and General Trust, plc (DMGT). For more information, visit www.edrnet.com.
About DMGI:
DMGI is a division of the Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT), a UK-based media company listed on the London Stock Exchange. The remit from DMGT is to assist in broadening their parent company’s media investments internationally and by revenue type. Their goal has been to build DMGI into a division characterized by rapid growth and high margins.
DMGI invests in business-to-business information companies. DMGI and its member companies as a matter of principle act as independent providers of information, analytics, technology and other services. Their goal is always to achieve outstanding levels of accuracy, comprehensiveness and relevance in serving their customers. DMGI’s staff is expected to maintain the highest standards of integrity and honest dealing with customers, suppliers, advisors and all others with whom they come into contact
