NEW ORLEANS, LA - 365 Connect, a leading provider of award-winning marketing, leasing, and resident technology platforms for the multifamily housing industry, announced the acquisition of uCribs, the largest search site dedicated to apartments near universities. The acquisition will expand the reach of 365 Connect into off-campus housing markets throughout the nation, adding millions of rental units to its marketing platform.
uCribs is one of the most unique housing search engines in the industry, enabling renters to search for apartments based on the location of their university. With Gen-Z renters primarily in mind, uCribs curates its own property listings by working directly with landlords and select data partners to provide a one-stop shop for its users. With its robust data capture infrastructure, uCribs measures housing trends across college campuses, sharing insights with its growing audience who want to understand the off-campus rental housing market.
365 Connect founder and CEO Kerry W. Kirby stated, "We are excited to add uCribs to the already robust marketing automation solutions we provide to the apartment industry. As the demand for data-driven marketing tools is rapidly increasing, uCribs will add valuable market insights to our platform in an underserved sector. This acquisition aligns perfectly with our strategy to bring efficiency to the multifamily housing industry by consolidating marketing, transactional, and service components into a unified solution."
The acquisition builds on a data exchange partnership the two companies developed over the last year, where 365 Connect's Marketing Syndication Platform distributed rental inventory listings with real-time pricing and availability to uCribs. With the acquisition, 365 Connect can further the scope of its platform to serve the off-campus housing market with data-rich marketing, analytical, and transactional tools.
Tom Gooding, lead investor of the London-based investment group that founded uCribs, explained, "We're proud of our successes since launching uCribs five years ago. We set out with a single goal of becoming the largest apartment search site dedicated to locating housing near universities. Today, uCribs has more high-quality listings surrounding college campuses than any other apartment search site, making it the best source for finding housing and neighborhood related information. The acquisition by 365 Connect presents exciting opportunities to execute our core vision on a much grander scale, as 365 Connect has the reach and resources to take uCribs to the next level."
365 Connect will transition uCribs technology, product development, operations, sales, and customer-support groups into its own operations to ensure continuity of services. Plans include fully integrating uCribs with its marketing automation and analytics platform, User Experience and User Interface Design (UI/UX) enhancements, and creating package offerings of transactional resident lifecycle products.
365 Connect acquired the assets of uCribs in an all-cash transaction. Adam Haynes and David Bluth, managing directors of GLC Advisors & Co. Technology Mergers and Acquisitions Team, served as exclusive advisors to 365 Connect.