Reverse Focus acquires Apiro Marketing to broaden mortgage services

Redding, California-based Reverse Focus announced April 3 that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Apiro Marketing as it looks to expand beyond reverse mortgages and deepen its marketing and content offerings for the broader U.S. mortgage industry.

Reverse Focus operates a marketing software platform for reverse mortgage originators, and it publishes industry news and analysis on HECMWorld.com. The firm says its platform supports more than 20% of all reverse mortgage transactions in the marketplace, according to company materials.

Apiro Marketing, founded about a decade ago by Australian entrepreneur Andrew Montesi under The Montesi Co., provides brand, digital marketing and growth services to professional services firms, including mortgage, real estate investment and financial services companies.

As part of the acquisition, Montesi will lead strategy and growth initiatives at Reverse Focus, including a redesign of ReverseFocus.com. The combined operation will offer integrated software and marketing solutions alongside expanded mortgage industry content on HECMWorld.com.

“This partnership is a big win for Reverse Focus and also the mortgage industry, as we significantly expand our offering by bringing Andrew and his team of experienced marketers and content producers officially on board, building on the relationship that we have already developed with Apiro over the last few years,” Reverse Focus CEO Eric Hiatt said in a statement.

Hiatt said Montesi brings more than 20 years of marketing, media and business growth experience, with much of it tied to mortgage and property-related businesses and small-business owners. That background, Hiatt said, is intended to deliver “instant value” to reverse mortgage originators while Reverse Focus looks to expand into the forward mortgage market and adjacent sectors.

Shannon Hicks, co-founder of Reverse Focus and editor in chief of HECMWorld, said the deal is expected to extend the reach of the company’s media arm.

“Andrew’s expertise, along with the Apiro team, will expand the reach of HECMWorld while continuing to deliver valuable insights to reverse mortgage professionals,” Hicks said.

Montesi framed the acquisition as a way to consolidate prior project-based work between the two firms into a single growth strategy.

“It is a great honor to be joining Reverse Focus, having already built great relationships with Eric and the team, and now formally uniting around a shared vision for the future,” Montesi said. “This partnership enables us to add enormous instant value to existing and new Reverse Focus clients and HECM World advertisers, while also bolstering our suite of services and support for existing Apiro clients.”

The deal underscores how reverse mortgage technology and marketing providers are repositioning for a more competitive, lower-volume market across all mortgage products. As lenders and originators look to squeeze more production out of fewer leads, bundled offerings that combine customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation with content production and strategic advisory work are becoming more common.

For reverse mortgage originators, the move signals that one of the sector’s key software and media players aims to broaden its focus beyond Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) to serve a wider range of mortgage professionals. That could translate into new tools, campaigns and educational content that align reverse with forward mortgage practices, as well as more integrated marketing options for lenders and brokers that operate across product lines.

Consolidation of niche marketing agencies into established mortgage tech platforms also reflects a broader industry trend as firms are trying to centralize vendor relationships, reduce overhead and improve data consistency across marketing channels. Housing professionals evaluating vendors may see more combined software-as-a-service pitches like this as marketing, content and technology continue to converge.

This article was generated using HousingWire Automation and reviewed by a HousingWire editor before publication. The system helps convert company announcements and industry data into HousingWire-style news coverage.