Mindbox LLC, a provider of artificial-intelligence software that automates underwriting and other lending decisions, says its new parent will let it offer more products and to serve smaller companies.
MacDonald, Dettwiler & Associates Ltd., a Vancouver, British Columbia, information services company, bought the Greenbrae, Calif., vendor last week but did not say how much it paid.
Richard Barfus, the president and chief executive of Mindbox, which has changed its name to MDA Mindbox, said in an interview Friday that MDA's financial strength "gives us a bit more muscle to accelerate some of the additional capabilities and products" his company is developing. He would not say what those products are, but he said Mindbox would announce them soon.
Its customers are mostly large lenders such as Countrywide Financial Corp., which uses the ARTEnterprise software in the Countrywide Loan Underwriting Expert System automated-underwriting engine.
"Now with MDA's support and help we can look at other distribution channels where we can get further down market and provide" technology to "pretty small lenders," Mr. Barfus said.
John Geddes, a vice president of business development with MDA, said in the interview that it wants to expand its financial services business.
MDA Mindbox could also take advantage of synergies between it and MDA, Mr. Geddes said.
For instance, MDA already has footholds in the U.S. mortgage information and property/casualty insurance markets and wants to expand its business with financial services firms, he said. Its Dataclick is "one of the largest providers" of property characteristic and home sales data in the United States; it aggregates data from 1,200 counties on a daily basis.
Automated valuation model vendors and "all the major lenders," use the data aggregation service, Mr. Geddes said.
MDA Mindbox could tie in Dataclick's data with Mindbox's well-known automated decisioning technology to help brokers and loan officers give borrowers better mortgage options, he said.
Among other things, MDA owns Marshall, Swift & Beck, one of North America's largest providers of "valuation solutions to the insurance industry." The unit determines the replacement costs and building costs of homes and all types of buildings, and it hosts property information and claim data for over 150 insurance companies. It also provides analytics on the data, Mr. Geddes said.
MDA also provides the land and property information used for home purchases in England, Wales, and Scotland.
The unit will keep all of its approximately 120 employees, Mr. Barfus said. According to Mr. Geddes, MDA had about 3,000 employees before the purchase.
Mr. Barfus co-owned Mindbox with the nonprime mortgage entrepreneur William Dallas, who now runs the Agoura Hills, Calif., wholesale lender Ownit Mortgage Solutions Inc.
