Formerly | Comparenow.com |
---|---|
Company type | Technology & Insurance |
Industry | Insurance |
Founded | 2013 |
Founder | Andrew Rose |
Headquarters | Richmond, Virginia, USA |
Key people | Allie Feakins (CEO) |
Products | Auto Insurance Comparison |
Parent |
|
Website | https://www.compare.com |
Compare.com (formerly Comparenow.com) is a comparison shopping website for intangible products, most notably car insurance, with headquarters in Richmond, VA. Compare.com was owned by its founding investor, Admiral Group plc, owner of the United Kingdom's first car insurance comparison site. [1]
Insurance carriers on the compare.com panel are contractually obligated to honor the rate presented on compare.com's site, as long as the user's information is correctly entered. Compare.com typically charges the auto insurer on a cost-per-sale basis. [2]
On March 27, 2023, Compare.com was acquired by comparison shopping website Insurify. However, its UK original investor retained a minority stake in the company. [3] [4]
Compare.com was launched in 2013 by Andrew Rose, with the majority of its financial backing from Admiral Group. Other investors include Mapfre, which owns 5.6% and White Mountains Insurance Group, the former owners of Esurance, which owns 18.4%. Diane Engelhardt, wife of former Admiral Group CEO Henry Englelhardt, owns 17% as a result of a fresh round of investment in November 2018. [5] The company is currently led by Allie Feakins.
When compare.com began delivering quotes to customers, they did so with partnerships with five carriers. [6] As of March 4, 2016, compare.com works with over 60 carriers to deliver more insurance comparisons to customers. [7]
As of November 2018 Compare.com had received $185 million in total investment, making it one of the most well funded companies in the Insurtech category. [8]
In January 2015, the New York Times revealed that Compare.com had formed a partnership with Google, offering them access to Compare.com's panel of carriers in exchange for a share of the royalties paid by the carrier. [9] They join Coverhound [10] and Bolt Solutions in partnering with Google's platform. [11]
Compare.com worked with Google Compare for the duration of their existence in the American car insurance comparison market, until Google Compare announced that they will be withdrawing their service from the market. [12]
Compare.com operates under primary ownership of Admiral Group, Plc, which operates 14 brands in seven countries. Other companies owned by Admiral include: [13]
In February 2016, compare.com began advertising their service nationally. [14] The advertising campaign features Agent Compare, who works in an underground facility to bring high-tech solutions to the auto insurance industry. Agent Compare promises to "Save Humanity from high insurance rates, one human at a time."
The Government Employees Insurance Company is an American auto insurance company headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland. In addition to auto insurance, GEICO provides motorcycle, ATV, RV, boat, snowmobile, travel, pet, event, homeowner, renter, and jewelry insurance options. It is the second largest auto insurer in the United States, after State Farm. GEICO is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, which provides coverage for more than 24 million motor vehicles owned by more than 15 million policy holders as of 2017. GEICO writes private passenger automobile insurance in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The insurance agency sells policies through local agents, called GEICO Field Representatives, over the phone directly to the consumer via licensed insurance agents, and through their website. Its mascot is a gold dust day gecko with a Cockney accent, voiced by English actor Jake Wood. GEICO is well known in popular culture for its advertising, having made numerous commercials intended to entertain viewers.
Legal & General Group plc, commonly known as Legal & General, is a British multinational financial services and asset management company headquartered in London, England. Its products and services include investment management, lifetime mortgages, pensions, annuities, and life assurance. As of January 2020, it no longer provides general insurance following the sale of Legal & General Insurance to Allianz. It has operations in the United Kingdom and United States, with investment management businesses in the Gulf, Europe and Asia.
Aviva plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It has about 18 million customers across its core markets of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. In the United Kingdom, Aviva is the largest general insurer and a leading life and pensions provider. Aviva is also the second largest general insurer in Canada.
Zurich Insurance Group Ltd is a Swiss insurance company, headquartered in Zürich, and the country's largest insurer. As of 2021, the group is the world's 112th largest public company according to Forbes' Global 2000s list, and in 2011, it ranked 94th in Interbrand's top 100 brands.
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Aegon Ltd. is a Dutch public company for life insurance, pensions and asset management. It is headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and has 26,000 employees as of July 21, 2020. Aegon is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam and is a constituent of the AEX index. It operates a direct bank under the brand name "Knab" in the Netherlands. In October 2022, it was announced that AEGON's Dutch operations would be acquired by ASR. To the extent they had the AEGON trade name, it will become ASR; Knab and TKP will keep their names.
Markel Group Inc. is a group of companies headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, and originally founded in 1930 as an insurance company.
Admiral Group plc is a British financial services company headquartered in Cardiff, Wales. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, it is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, and markets the Admiral, Bell, Elephant, Diamond and Veygo insurance brands, as well as launching the price comparison services Confused.com and Compare.com. The group employs more than 10,000 people across its brands.
M&G plc is a global investment manager headquartered in the City of London. Since its de-merger from Prudential plc, it has been listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Confused.com is a UK based financial services comparison platform launched in 2001 and specialising in comparison of insurance and financial services, including car insurance, home insurance, energy, van insurance and life insurance. Confused.com's platform includes a website and app.
TP ICAP Group plc is a financial services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its stock is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
GoCompare.com Limited, trading as Go.Compare is a Welsh financial services comparison company based in Newport, Wales. Its website provides comparison details for financial products including car insurance, home and pet insurance and breakdown cover. Since 2021 it has been owned by Future plc. The company's advertising campaign in 2015 was voted as the "most irritating advertisement."
Auto Windscreens is a United Kingdom automotive glazing company specialising in windscreen repair and replacement. It is owned by Auto Windscreens Services Limited, and is headquartered in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. Working predominantly with insurers, brokers and fleet management customers, the company operates a nationwide fitting centre network that utilises a mobile fleet of trained technicians.
Purch Group, Inc. was a New York City-based digital media company. Originally established in 2003 as TechMedia Network, Inc., it was positioned as a "portfolio of brands and products focused on purchasing decisions"—consisting primarily of websites focusing on reviews of consumer electronics, positioned to marketers as outlets to "directly engage with buyers in the right place, at the right time".
Sweet Frog is a chain of frozen yogurt retail restaurants owned and operated by Sweet Frog Enterprises, LLC. Sweet Frog customers create their own soft-serve frozen yogurt with numerous flavors and toppings from which to choose. Derek Cha, who immigrated to the United States from South Korea at the age of 12, is the founder of sweetFrog. He opened the first sweetFrog shop in Richmond, Virginia in 2009, at a time when the United States economy was in a recession. Cha founded sweetFrog on Christian principles. The "FROG" part of the name, according to Cha, is actually an acronym for "Fully Rely on God".
The Zebra is an insurance comparison site with headquarters in Austin, Texas. It compares rates from over 200 insurance carriers.
Willis Towers Watson plc, branded as WTW and stylised in its logo as wtw, is a British-American multinational company providing insurance services. The company was founded in 2016, following a merger of the Willis Group and Towers Watson.
Oscar Health, Inc. is an American health insurance company, founded in 2012 by Joshua Kushner, Kevin Nazemi and Mario Schlosser, and is headquartered in New York City. The company focuses on the health insurance industry through telemedicine, healthcare focused technological interfaces, and transparent claims pricing systems which would make it easier for patients to navigate.
Insurify is an American insurance comparison shopping website headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Partnering with insurance companies like Nationwide, Farmers, and Liberty Mutual, Insurify is licensed and operating in all 50 states. The platform has collected more than 100,000 reviews from customers.
Oxford Sciences Enterprises is an early-stage venture capital firm with over $800M in AUM based in Oxford, UK. It operates in partnership with the University of Oxford, as the university's preferred investor, several prominent financiers back the firm, including Google Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Tencent, Huawei and Invesco. The firm uses academic research from the university's science departments to form commercial businesses, also known as spin-outs.