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SECURITY SYSTEMS NEWS MAY 2011 www.securitysystemsnews.com RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS 29 Online Alarm gets funding, 2GIG deal American Continued from page 27 By Tess Nacelewicz YONKERS, N.Y.—Online Alarm Quotes, a new dealer program based here, recently announced it has added a funding program and closed a deal with 2GIG Technologies to offer its products. “We have partnered with a major finance firm to create a benefit that is exclusive for our members,” business co-founder Tom Fowler told Security Systems News on March 18. “We now have an account purchase program for our dealers with no chargebacks and no guarantee,” he said. Also, Fowler said, Online Alarm Quotes stands out because “we purchase accounts for renters, plus we provide funding for D credit scores.” In addition, Fowler said, Online Alarm Quotes completed “a major deal” with 2GIG. Lance Dean, co-founder of 2GIG, described Online Alarm Quotes to SSN as a “kind of a dealer program that’s got a little bit of a differ- ent twist, kind of almost like a buying co-op Program Continued from page 27 ers realize their own success.” Now in its eleventh year, Alarm Capital, generates about $3 million in RMR. It closed on a $100 million credit facility last May, which was led by Bank of America and was solely for new acquisitions the company said. Through full or partial acquisitions, the com- pany purchased $735,969 of RMR last year—25,829 accounts—putting its customer count at 101,000, Kothari said in the release. She said the company has worked with about 200 alarm dealers, many still providing service on the accounts they sold to Alarm Capital. group. Once you’re a member of it you get certain advantages ... They chose 2GIG to be one of the products they wanted to offer to their dealers, and so I’m happy to work with Tom and his new venture.” Online Alarm Quotes was in development for several years before its official launch in January, according to Fowler, who also is president and CEO of 24-7 Security, a former Brink’s dealer serving the New York metropolitan area. Security dealers who become members get qualified leads and can take advantage of benefits such as discounts on equipment, monitoring, leasing and funding while main- taining their own business identities, according to Fowler. Online Alarm Quotes recently added its funding program, he said. “We brokered with some financial institutions,” he said. He declined to name them or say how much funding the business has access to. “We don’t want to discuss our sources, but Alarm Capital focuses on block acquisi- tions—buying as many as 2,000 or so at a time. “We purchase the accounts and take over the billing, while keep- ing the dealer very much involved. Even though they’ve sold the account they still provide the ser- vice for it. If the customer wants additional equip- ment, or has a referral, all of that goes directly to the dealer. That’s what sets us apart.” Bond said Alarm Capital got requests from dealers that it create a dealer program that would work the same as the company’s bulk purchase program. “We’ve had a lot of success with this model so it made sense to us to put together that surrounds you. we have residential and commercial funding now,” he said. Also, he said, Online Alarm Quotes “will take a renter (account), which nobody is doing, nobody ... You have to look at renters because ... there’s people that rent houses for 20 and 30 years, they’re stable and in this economy, you’re crazy if you don’t look at renters. They’re a great source of income.” In addition, Fowler said, Online Alarm Quotes will buy accounts where the customer has a credit rating of 550, a D score, about 100 points lower than the industry average. “How many solid citizens had their credit beat up when the economy tanked and through no fault of their own?” Fowler said. “We’ll look at a 550 ... and we will actually buy them. It is at a discounted price, but we’ll buy them.” Online Alarm Quotes also is offering fund- ing for residential service accounts such as CCTV and access control and for commercial fire accounts, Fowler said. SSN “It allows dealers to run their business like they’ve always run it.” —Kelly Bond, Alarm Capital a dealer program using the same model,” Bond said. Bond said the company has had a type of unofficial dealer program for several years with some of the dealers who sold to it in bulk. “ACA’s new indepen- dent dealer program meets the needs of select companies across the U.S. who market their business in their own name and keep an ongoing relationship with the customers they sell.” Bond said, “Our goal is to bring on more of a traditional dealer that is looking for an opportunity for additional cash flow but who still is out there running his business like he always has. SSN and one in New Hampshire—and its own UL-listed certified central station in Arlington, Mass. But Sampson said the purchase was a “win-win-win” for American Alarm, Alert Security and its customers. For American Alarm, he said, it “increas- es our customer base in the Worcester market ... We’re already staffed there so we can provide a pretty high service level to those customers and it helps us with our growth plan, growing customers and growing service capabilities.” Sampson said Nelson was the sole employee of Alert Security, and sold the business to spend time with family and on other endeavors. And the buy is a win for Alert Security’s customers, virtually all of them residential, Sampson said. “We can provide more depth in terms of the numbers of techni- cians, service and support than a smaller company can provide,” he said. American Alarm can also offer the customers new technologies, different payment options, redundant communica- tions options and video, Sampson said. “It’s more choice, more options, more capabilities,” he said. Also, he said, American Alarm can offer in-house monitoring to customers—Alert Security had sourced out its monitoring. “Installation and service and monitor- ing can be all under one roof, which can give better, seamless customer service,” Sampson said. He said that the customers acquired from Nelson are valuable ones. “They’re happy, long-term satisfied customers,” Sampson said. He declined to be specific about the terms of the acquisition but said, “Obviously, that kind of customer base commands a premium set of terms.” SSN Vivint Continued from page 27 Last fall, when it was still APX, Vivint announced a similar $125 million increase in its debt financing, with a grand total then of $565 million. Black at that time described it as the “largest of its kind” bank facility in the security space. Dunn said that the lat- facility has that title. Dunn lenders this the same as “We didn’t new sourc- Chris Black in March est bank overtaken said the time are last time. add any es,” he 180° (AV8185DN) or 360° (AV8365DN) Panoramic Versions Four 2MP Sensors for 6400 x 1200 Total Resolution Dual Compression H.264 and MJPEG Day/Night Functionality IP66 Surface/In-ceiling Mount Enclosure Wall, Pendant, Corner and Pole Mount Options Heater/Blower Options 1-818-937-0700 • arecontvision.com MADE IN THE USA told SSN. He said the existing lenders “increased the amount they were lending us in the facility.” He added: “It’s a very big vote of confi- dence from our lenders.” The deal with Vivint is one of the lat- est examples of Goldman Sachs Specialty Lending Group’s investment in the security space. In February of this year, it joined other lenders in a deal in which ASG Security upped its line of credit to $230 million. SSN