Rumored for quite some time and now complete, All Web Leads, the Austin, TX based insurance lead generation firm has announced its acquisition on InsuranceLeads.com, the North Hollywood based firm originally know as Itsol.
This is the latest in an amazing round of consolidation within the insurance lead generation category. The reigning champions of insurance lead generation, Quinstreet (QNST), up 60% since its IPO, and Bankrate have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the past 12 months combining companies. The former owns SureHits, and added Insurance.com and CarInsurance.com among others. Bankrate which owned InsureMe added the leading lead generation firm, Netquote to its roster, bolstering its financial services business at the same time with the purchase of CreditCards.com.
Prior to moves by Quinstreet and Bankrate, All Web Leads was in the top three of insurance lead generation firms, and this move helps them counter the moves by their larger rivals. It’s a bold move and took some impressive orchestration to pull off. The company brought in Great Hill Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm, to make the transaction possible.
The natural question on many people’s minds will be, “Really?” The two companies have very different cultures. Yet, a look at their strengths starts to explain the business fit. InsuranceLeads.com has primarily focused on growing its insurance agent base. Until recently, it had not focused as heavily on the traffic acquisition side. All Web Leads was much stronger on the traffic acquisition side but had a smaller agent base. Putting the two together creates a company, according to them, that has among the largest agent bases and generates the most leads. All Web Leads will manage the combined entity out of their Austin headquarters, and the new entity will generate we hear greater than $100mm in revenues this year.
In summary, exciting. Congratulations to both companies and the industry.
Here is a copy of the release.
All Web Leads, Inc. Joins Forces with Great Hill Partners to Acquire InsuranceLeads.com
Combination Creates Industry’s Only “End-to-End” Online Marketing Services Company Focused Exclusively on Insurance
All Web Leads, a leading online sales lead generation company supplying the US insurance industry, announced today that it had acquired InsuranceLeads.com, a leading provider of online leads to insurance agents, brokers and carriers. To finance the acquisition All Web Leads has teamed with Great Hill Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm with over $2.5 billion under management, who have made a majority investment in the combined entity. All Web Leads’ current executive team will lead the combined company, which will continue to be based in Austin, Texas. Morgan Keegan served as an advisor to All Web Leads, Inc for the transaction. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“We are very excited to welcome the InsuranceLeads.com team to the All Web Leads family,” said Bill Daniel, CEO of All Web Leads, Inc. “This acquisition will create tremendous additional value for the insurance agents, brokers and carriers that purchase Internet leads by more closely matching their business needs and those of online consumers.”
“All Web Leads has built an impressive, data-driven online marketing business focused on the insurance sector,” said Michael Kumin of Great Hill Partners. “We are pleased to partner with Bill and the team at All Web Leads in the acquisition of InsuranceLeads.com and are excited to support the All Web Leads franchise in the next phase of its growth.”
The combination creates a technology and data-driven insurance leads powerhouse – the largest direct lead generator in the insurance industry and the second largest active customer base of insurance agents, brokers and carriers. Insurance represents a fast-growing online market, with consumers increasingly using the Internet to research policies and prices prior to contacting an agent. Insurance lead generation companies connect consumers searching for insurance online with agents, brokers and carriers who provide those products and simplify the process of obtaining multiple competitive quotes.
The combined company now operates the largest network of direct consumer marketing web properties devoted to helping consumers more easily obtain multiple insurance quotes. More than 10,000 insurance agents, as well as numerous brokerages and insurance carriers, subscribe to the company’s services.
About All Web Leads, Inc.
Founded in 2005, All Web Leads (http://www.allwebleads.com) is a leading online sales lead provider for the U.S. insurance industry. The company delivers real-time, targeted, high-quality sales leads to top insurance producers. All Web Lead’s technology-driven approach to online marketing helps bring together agents with qualified customers who are actively searching online for insurance products. The company is headquartered in Austin, TX.
About InsuranceLeads.com
InsuranceLeads.com has one of the largest and fastest growing networks of individual insurance agents, small, medium and large insurance sales organizations and major insurance companies. The company’s insurance sites help thousands of consumers a day receive competitive insurance quotes. The company was founded in 2003 by insurance and technology professionals with the goal to become the nation’s leading, real time, internet insurance leads generating company.
About Great Hill Partners
Great Hill Partners is a private equity firm that manages over $2.5 billion in capital to finance the expansion, recapitalization or acquisition of growth companies operating in the business and consumer services, media, communications, healthcare IT, financial technology and software industries. Great Hill Equity Partners IV, L.P. and its affiliates target equity investments of $30 million to $150 million. For more information, please visit http://www.greathillpartners.com.
About Morgan Keegan
Morgan Keegan, a full-service brokerage and investment banking firm, has more than 4,100 employees in 300 offices across the country. The firm’s investment Banking division provides comprehensive merger and acquisition advisory, public equity and private capital services to public and private companies as well as private equity groups.
Morgan Keegan’s Technology Investment Banking Group, formerly Revolution Partners, is among the largest and most active Investment Banking groups serving the technology industry. The technology group is well-regarded for its expertise in particular technology sectors, including software, IT services, communications, digital media/e-commerce, wireless, clean tech, storage and semiconductors.
