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Richard Westlund | 2/1/2006

With two recent acquisitions, Bankrate Inc. is carving out a bigger niche in the online financial marketplace just four years after barely surviving the tech crash.

The company's site, bankrate.com, is a leading destination for consumers seeking information on banking, investing, taxes, debt management and college finance. It is also a leading aggregator of more than 300 financial products, including mortgages, credit cards and loans.

In November, it acquired San Francisco-based FastFind for $10 million. FastFind matches consumers looking for financial or education products with businesses that pay FastFind to provide them with quality leads. Bankrate also paid $30 million for MMIS/Interest.com, which publishes mortgage guides for newspapers and operates Interest.com, which connects consumers to lenders.

"Getting into the lead aggregator business via the FastFind acquisition will allow us to add another revenue stream to the company at high margins and at very little incremental operating expenses," says Bankrate President and CEO Thomas R. Evans.

Tags: Southeast, Banking & Finance

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