Seattle-based insurance comparison startup QuoteWizard has acquired RateElert, an Ann Arbor, Mich. insurance shopping site.
QuoteWizard will acquire RateElert’s insurance marketing assets in addition to its insurance technology rate comparison platform, ratekick.com. The move allows QuoteWizard to add new products, reach a broader audience and beef up its marketing.
“We plan on leveraging RateElert’s innovative insurance technology assets to further our vision of being the premier online destination for Americans looking for insurance,” QuoteWizard founder and CEO Scott Peyree said in a statement.
QuoteWizard has rebounded from a rocky end to last year, when the company announced layoffs affecting 50 jobs, about 30 percent of its workforce at the time. Peyree told GeekWire the layoffs were due to constrained spending by the insurance industry, where the company makes its money, and a search for more sustainable business solutions.
Earlier this year an upturn in insurance spending and payoffs from some of the company’s tech and strategy investments led to record monthly profits. The company also launched a new car insurance comparison tool, CarrierCompare, earlier this year.
The bootstrapped startup has been family owned since its founding in 2006. It has helped more than 40 million people find insurance policies in its history.
