Ellie Mae Completes MortgageCEO Acquisition

PLEASANTON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Ellie Mae^® ELLI, a leading provider of enterprise level, on-demand automated solutions for the residential mortgage industry, announced today that it has completed its acquisition of substantially all the assets of ARG Interactive, LLC (dba MortgageCEO) (“MortgageCEO”), a leader in on-demand customer relationship management (CRM), and marketing automation solutions for the mortgage industry.

MortgageCEO's Software-as-a-Service offering provides mortgage originators an “all-in-one” CRM and marketing platform with lead management, sales automation, email marketing, builder and Realtor^® referral marketing and mobile capabilities.

MortgageCEO is currently integrated into Encompass^® through Ellie Mae's Software Development Kit (SDK). Ellie Mae intends to strengthen the integration between MortgageCEO and Encompass in 2014.

“With shrinking refinance volumes and a major shift to a purchase market, originators will need to fully leverage their referral sources and deepen relationships with existing customers, partners and prospects in order to compete and succeed,” said Jonathan Corr, president and chief operating officer of Ellie Mae. “Employing a well-designed CRM and marketing automation system like MortgageCEO allows originators to efficiently ramp up their marketing and improve how they generate and nurture referral relationships. It also allows lenders to easily demonstrate that the proper institutional controls and safeguards are being applied when marketing to consumers.”

Jaret Christopher, founder and CEO of MortgageCEO, added, “By joining forces with Ellie Mae, we can expand our shared vision of helping lenders automate the origination process and deliver the best software solutions to our customers. Strengthening MortgageCEO's integration with Encompass will help lenders improve compliance and customer service, reduce sales and marketing costs and take their origination efforts to the next level with just one system.”

Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the anticipated benefits from and timing of the integration of MortgageCEO with Ellie Mae. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements identified by words such as "expectations," "guidance," "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "intends," "plans," "targets," "projects" and similar expressions. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of Ellie Mae's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause future results to differ include, but are not limited to, the following: the risk that the anticipated benefits, growth prospects and synergies expected from the MortgageCEO acquisition may not be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected; the possibility that economic benefits of future opportunities in an emerging industry may never materialize, including unexpected variations in market growth and demand for the acquired products and technologies; delays, disruptions, costs and challenges associated with integrating MortgageCEO into the Company's existing business, including changing relationships with partners, customers, employees or suppliers; the amount of costs incurred in connection with the supporting and integrating new customers and partners; ongoing personnel and logistical challenges of managing a larger organization; our ability to retain and motivate key employees from MortgageCEO; and general economic and business conditions. You are advised to consult any further disclosures we make on related subjects in the reports we file with the SEC, including the "Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Such disclosure covers certain risks, uncertainties and possibly inaccurate assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially from expected and historical results. We undertake no obligation to correct or update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Ellie Mae

Ellie Mae, Inc. ELLI is a leading provider of on-demand automation solutions for the mortgage industry. The Company offers an end-to-end solution, delivered using a Software-as-a-Service model that serves as the core operating system for mortgage originators and spans customer relationship management, loan origination and business management. The Company also hosts the Ellie Mae Network™ that allows Encompass^® users to electronically conduct business transactions with the lenders and settlement service providers they work with to process and fund loans. The Company's offerings include the Encompass and DataTrac^® mortgage management software systems.

Ellie Mae was founded in 1997 and is based in Pleasanton, California. To learn more about Ellie Mae, visit www.EllieMae.com or call 877.355.4362.

© 2014 Ellie Mae, Inc. Ellie Mae^®, Encompass^®, DataTrac^®, Ellie Mae Network™ and the Ellie Mae logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Ellie Mae, Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Other company and product names may be trademarks or copyrights of their respective owners.

About MortgageCEO

MortgageCEO, an ARG Interactive company, is a leading provider of on-demand CRM and marketing automation solutions to mortgage companies, banks and credit unions. MortgageCEO's suite of sales tools and marketing solutions are easy to implement and is a cost effective way to increase sales and provide a better overall experience to clients. To learn more about MortgageCEO, visit www.mortgageCEO.com.