DURHAM – Adwerx has new executive leadership as the founder and long-time CEO Jed Carlson has stepped aside.

Michael Collins, a veteran CEO who also has experience in private equity, assumed leadership responsibilities recently.

Michael Collins, CEO of Adwerx. (Image provided by Adwerx.)

According to a statement from the company, Collins will focus the company on “scaling operational efficiency and customer acquisition in the real estate and mortgage verticals.”

Collins is a former CEO of Marketron, the former CEO of Adelphic, and the founder and CEO of Joule, a digital advertising agency.

“I am very excited to join Adwerx,” said Michael Collins. “Adwerx’s approach to enabling enterprises and their top producers to engage customers in local markets is both unique and powerful, which is demonstrated by the company’s huge success with Real Estate and Mortgage firms.”

A spokesperson for the company told WRAL TechWire that founder and former CEO Jed Carlson is “no longer involved in any day to day of Adwerx.”

Durham real estate tech startup Adwerx lays off 40, cites ‘macroeconomic uncertainty’

What’s happening

Adwerx laid off workers in July 2022, citing macroeconomic uncertainty.  A spokesperson for the company told WRAL TechWire at that time that the firm “elected to scale back certain initiatives that were focused on new, non-core verticals, and unfortunately, this impacted a number of positions in the company.”

The core focal points for Adwerx entering 2023 will again be on its core verticals in the real estate and the mortgage industries, Collins said in the statement.

“Our focus in 2023 will be to build on the company’s leadership position in these core verticals and help our clients shift more of their marketing efforts to digital,” said Collins.

Adwerx raised $14.5 million in a fundraising round in November 2021, including investments from Texas Capital Bank’s Technology Banking Group, Savano Capital Partners, and the firm’s existing investors.

That funding came at a time when the company had reported its business had grown more than 70% in the year prior.

Adwerx spun out of ReverbNation in early 2015, including splitting off into a separate building, with separate teams.  Carlson, who served as president of ReverbNation, left to serve as chief executive at Adwerx at that time.

The firm currently employs 77 workers, with 40 based in the Triangle, according to a spokesperson for the company.