Root Insurance
InsurtechUSA
New to Unitard
π Public < $1B
PeakΒ $6.7 BillionToday
β89%
from peak
- π¦Became a unicorn2018
- πPeak valuation$6.7 Billion β20
- πBecame a Unitard~2021
- πΈLast valuation~$771M
Current status
Public (ROOT)
Live Β· ROOTΒ· NasdaqGS
as of 2026-09-21
$49.78βΌ 8.37% today
βΒ $771 Million market cap Β· β88.5% from peak
The rise & fall
7 moments Β· 2015β2024The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.
2015
2015
Founded in Columbus
Alex Timm's pitch: price car insurance by how you actually drive, via a telematics app.
Wikipedia
2018
2018
Joins the unicorn club
A Tiger Global-led round pushes the Ohio insurtech past $1B three years in.
TechCrunch
Oct 2020
Oct 2020
The peak: a $6.7B IPO$6.7B
Root goes public near the top of the insurtech wave at a valuation around $6.7B.
CNBC
2021β22
2021β22
Underwriting losses bite
Heavy loss ratios, costly customer acquisition and rising claims send the stock sharply lower after listing.
SEC filing
2021
2021
Slips out of the club
The market cap falls back through the $1B line within a year of the IPO.
CMC
2022β23
From the inside Β· Glassdoor reviews, 2022β23
Glassdoor reviews from the 2022-23 slide tracked the mood: successive layoff rounds staff described as arriving without warning, and thinned-out teams absorbing the leftover claims load. Reviews warmed as results steadied, though gripes about pay and workload persisted.
Today
Today
Still in the club β and still trading
Live Β· ROOT Β· NasdaqGSas of 2026-09-21
$49.78βΌ 8.37% todayβ $771M cap Β· β88.5% from peak
π¬ entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor β; dated facts carry their source.
How it happened
Root Insurance is a US auto insurtech using telematics and app-based pricing, reaching a peak valuation around $6.7B near its 2020 IPO. Heavy underwriting losses, high customer-acquisition costs, and rising claims drove its stock sharply lower after going public, and its market cap fell roughly 88% to about $0.83B β below the $1B unicorn line. Reviews warmed as results steadied, though gripes about pay and workload persisted.
Source: CMC May 2026
Founder
Current roles as self-reported on LinkedIn, retrieved 2026-08-19. See our methodology.
