Root Insurance

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 — below the $1B unicorn line. Glassdoor reviews from the 2022-23 slide tracked the mood inside: successive layoff rounds that some staff described as arriving without warning, thinned-out teams absorbing the leftover claims load, and complaints that strategy kept shifting as the company searched for a workable model. Reviews warmed as results steadied, though gripes about pay and workload persisted.

Employee accounts paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗. See our methodology.