Lubert-backed SmarterAgent lures NY, Seattle techs
Camden-based Smarter Agent may move to Philly, now that Hank's Bar has closed, says co-owner Brad Blumberg
Smarter Agent, Camden, says it's raised $6 million this year from Philadelphia investor Ira Lubert, Reed Smith attorney (and ex-Morgan Lewis chairman) Howard Shecter, BoKu boss Mark Britto, ex-Eastman Kodax executive Alex Wasilov, and other investors to boost sales of its smartphone app for real estate agents. (More on apps here.)
"We've raised $18.2 million since 2008," Brad Blumberg, who founded the company with his brother Eric, told me. The brothers grew up in their father's Margate real estate business, Blumberg Associates. They say they're providing home-sales apps - platform-neutral, works with Android or iPhone or whatever you want - for agencies and customers of Century 21, Sotheby's, ERA, and regionals like ReMax in New Jersey, Baird & Warner in Chicago.
How'd they get Lubert, who owns a casino in Valley Forge and manages $12 billion through his real estate and private investment funds? "We walked in and said Hello," said Brad. "I learned a lot from Ira. People think he's tough. But he's usually the smartest guy in the room."
This is no overnight success. The Blumbergs say they started messing around with mobile Internet applications a decade ago. Ben Franklin Technology Partners financed early mobile-phone software demos that would hunt for users' location. "We'd take a Palm 7 and put a GPS clip on it. We were early," said Brad. The result: "We now have five granted patents," which commands investor attention.
Why are guys like Lubert investing personally, and not brinigng their clients' money? "This is still early stage," said Brad. It's no mere app, it's a system-neutral platform, "like Salesforce.com for mobile." Customers "don't need a huge multi-million-dollar investment." They'll have to rely on volume to justify that $18 million capital inflow.
Blumberg is building up his staff, currently 34, including recent hires like Philp Charles-Pierre, a former Travelocity executive who moved here from New York, and Nick Smoot and Allen Hartwig, who moved here to work for Smarter Agent when it bought their firm, Toorme.com, in Seattle.
Smoot brought his wife and kids after she fell in love with Philly on a visit. Hartwig "visited Fishtown and he said, 'This is it.' He said, 'If you're not from the East, you want to live in a loft.' He saw that movie Big, the loft with the basketball court, he wanted that. And they love all the bars and restaurants. It's what young kids like.
How's Camden? Convenient to his home in Voorhees, says Blumberg. He learned to work the New Jersey political-financial establishment in an abortive stint as a supermarket developer, when the DRPA was "throwing money at business." But now he misses his favorite downtown Camden bar, Hank's, where "I did all my work." Since Hank's closed, "we'll probably move to Philly."