Tempcover to sell up to Uswitch and Confused owner RVU

RVU, owner of Uswitch, Confused.com and Money.co.uk, has agreed to buy Tempcover for an undisclosed sum.

Since it was founded in 2006 Tempcover, which specialises in short-term car, van, courier, motorbike, student, and learner insurance – has sold more than 3.9m policies.

The broker completed a £13.3m management buy-out in January 2018 backed by £7.5m from Connection Capital alongside a £5.75m debt package from Santander UK’s Growth Capital team. At that time it was writing over 360,000 policies a year.

The Hampshire-based broker has now grown to a team of 51 employees and has 85 corporate partners and brokers for its offering which covers hourly through to month-long policies.

RVU snapped up Confused last year buying it from Admiral as part of a £508m deal for Penguin Portals to add the business to its personal finance portfolio.

The Tempcover transaction remains subject to regulatory approval.

Opportunity

Alan Inskip, CEO and founder of Tempcover, said: “Tempcover continues to exceed growth expectations, and this transaction is good news for everyone.

“Being backed by RVU presents us with the exciting opportunity to capitalise on the broader motor insurance market.

“It also creates the opportunity for even further growth and development not only for Tempcover as a brand, but for our panel of insurers, our commercial partners and, most importantly, our employees.”

Tariq Syed, CEO of RVU, said: “We’re always striving to improve experiences for customers, and believe that Tempcover will help us enhance these further.

“As a leader in its category, Tempcover brings with it significant expertise in the insurtech market. Having already worked with the team to provide short term insurance products, we know we share the same approach in putting the customer first and investing in a great place to work for our employees.”

Last month the Information Commissioner’s Office fined Tempcover £85,000 for sending almost 30m unsolicited text messages and emails between 26 May 2019 and 26 May 2020.

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