Baltimore startup Fixt acquired by Fortune 500 insurer Assurant

Baltimore-based mobile tech support startup Fixt was acquired by Fortune 500 risk management company Assurant, the companies said this week.

The deal will add Fixt’s on-demand device repair capabilities, which includes a network of more than 1,500 technicians, to Assurant’s mobile service offerings. Terms were not disclosed.

Founded as Peach in 2014, CEO Luke Cooper brought experience previously starting and exiting a cybersecurity startup. The Fells Point-based startup grew a base of companies and organizations that used its platform, which allows the enterprises to schedule and manage repairs of employee devices by technicians who will come to a home or office. The company gained clients including U.S. Cellular, Apple and AT&T.  It also earned a local following, like a win at Light City’s Ravens pitch competition in 2017. The company has raised $10.1 million, per Crunchbase, including a $6.5 million Series A in 2016.

“We created the first on-demand technology repair platform for enterprise clients because we believed the consumerization of IT would completely revolutionize the way companies do business, including how they replaced broken mobile devices and tablets,” said CEO Luke Cooper in a statement. “Over the past few years, we have grown revenue and our technician network significantly to meet the growing demand for on-demand technology support.”

Assurant, a publicly traded company that is based in New York, has 14,000 employees and has a presence in 21 countries. Among the areas where it offers insurance and support is mobile devices,  providing protection policies for customers of carriers like T-Mobile. Manny Becerra, the company’s president of global connected living, said Fixt would add to the company’s offerings by “providing customers with expanded options to resolve issues with their mobile devices and more control to manage their service experience.”

In a statement, Becerra added: “We’re also excited to welcome the talented Fixt team to Assurant and look forward to working together to bring new innovations to the market.”

With the Black Lives Matter movement surging across the nation in June, Cooper wrote an op-ed for Technical.ly describing the hard realities of being a Black founder, particularly the racial biases that involved in the fundraising process, and his decision to turn down funding from an investor who disparaged majority-Black Baltimore.

Two months later, it continues to be a time when all companies must show their work on racial equity. In the press release about the acquisition, it was apparent that Cooper took Assurant’s actions into consideration when it came to the exit.

“In these complex times, customers are choosing to align themselves with more diverse organizations that know how to innovate,” he said in the statement. “As a Black founder, I am extremely proud to join a company with such a strong commitment to diversity, inclusion and real equity.”