About Root
Root is a Columbus, Ohio-based management consulting firm specializing in employee engagement surveys, change management programs, and workshop facilitation. It serves clients in healthcare, manufacturing, and financial services with tools like the Root Relevance Framework for cultural diagnostics. The firm delivers keynote sessions at conferences such as SHRM Annual. Founded in 2001, Root consults for organizations including Nationwide and OhioHealth.
Founded
1984
HQ
Website
Status
Acquired
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Services
Revenue
$432M (Oct 2020)
Valuation
$7.1B (Oct 2020)
Sectors
Root Acquisition
Root was acquired by Accenture for an undisclosed price on 23 April 2021.
Before the acquisition Root had raised $500M across 1 funding round.
Accenture acquired Root Inc., a consultancy with 30 years of experience helping Global 2000 organizations activate strategies and transform cultures using creative and visual methods to accelerate employee engagement and change effectiveness. The acquisition was announced on April 23, 2021, and Root joined Accenture’s Talent & Organization / Human Potential team to strengthen organizational change management capabilities with new experiential and digital assets for rapid, scalable engagement. The strategic rationale focused on enhancing Accenture's ability to bridge strategy creation to activation, connecting employees intellectually and emotionally to change initiatives. Root's methodologies complement Accenture's prior acquisitions in the space, such as fable+, Cirrus, Future State, and Kates Kesler, amid a period of heightened digital transformation driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. Root's CEO Rich Berens highlighted the fit with Accenture's emphasis on being the voice of change, enabling global impact on more organizations. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed across official announcements and news coverage.
| Acquirer | Date | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 23 Apr 2021 | Strategic M&A |
Root Valuation
Root is currently valued at $7.1B, based on its undisclosed-stage round in October 2020.
The $500M round was led by Dragoneer and Silver Lake.
Root valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2020 | Undisclosed stage | $7.1B | 16.4x |
Root Revenue
Root's latest recorded revenue is $432M, as of its undisclosed-stage round in October 2020. At a $7.1B valuation, that implies a 16.4x revenue multiple.
Root revenue by funding round
| Date | Revenue * | Valuation | Revenue Multiple | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2020 | $432M | $7.1B | 16.4x | Undisclosed stage |
* Revenue (or ARR) figures are the values recorded alongside each funding round. Typically run-rate revenue at the time of the deal, or a reported LTM (last 12 months) revenue.
Root Funding History
Root has raised a total of $500M across 1 funding round.
Root funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2020 | Undisclosed stage | Dragoneer (lead); Silver Lake (lead) | $500M | $7.1B | Root is a mobile-based auto insurer founded in 2015 that uses technology and individual performance data to assess risk, offering a user-friendly mobile-first engagement strategy to challenge the traditional insurance model. In October 2020, Root completed its IPO on the Nasdaq under symbol ROOT, pricing 24.2 million shares at $27 per share (above its original $22–$25 target range) and raising approximately $655 million in the main offering. Concurrent with the IPO, Dragoneer Investment Group and Silver Lake each invested $250 million in private placements at the IPO price, bringing total capital raised to approximately $1.15 billion across both transactions. Root's post-money valuation at IPO pricing was approximately $7.1 billion on a fully diluted basis, according to Renaissance Capital. For the 12 months ended June 30, 2020, Root reported $432 million in revenue, demonstrating strong growth momentum—the company had seen revenues more than double from the first half of 2019 to the first half of 2020. The company's direct written premium at Q3 2020 annualized to approximately $655.6 million, reflecting its rapid expansion in the auto insurance market. |
Who has invested in Root?
2 investors have backed Root across its funding rounds, including Dragoneer and Silver Lake.
Lead investors include Dragoneer and Silver Lake.
Root Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all 2 Root investors. Start Free Trial | ||||
Benchmark 350K+ Funding Rounds and Disclosed VC Valuation Multiples
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Start Free TrialRoot Competitors
Root competitors include listed companies like BayCurrent, Andersen Group, Booz Allen and DKSH Holding, and private ones like CREED and Aledade.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publicly listed | $954M | $327M | $7.4B | 6.3x | ||
| Private | - | - | $6.4B | - | ||
| Publicly listed | $839M | ($121M) | $6.2B | 7.6x | ||
| Publicly listed | $11B | $1.2B | $9.5B | 1.2x | ||
| Publicly listed | $13B | $532M | $5.2B | 0.4x | ||
| Private | $475M | - | $3.5B | 7.4x |
Root Public Comps
Root is no longer listed, but its public comps include BayCurrent, Andersen Group, DKSH Holding, Sweco, Booz Allen, FTI Consulting, Serco Group, Maximus, CBIZ and Alten.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $954M | $327M | 7.3x | 6.3x | 21.4x | 18.1x | |||
| $839M | ($121M) | 8.6x | 7.6x | (59.9x) | 29.7x | |||
| $13B | $532M | 0.4x | 0.4x | 10.5x | 9.5x | |||
| $3.2B | $475M | 1.7x | 1.6x | 11.3x | 11.8x | |||
| $11B | $1.2B | 1.2x | 1.2x | 10.6x | 10.5x | |||
| $3.8B | $435M | 1.3x | 1.3x | 11.4x | 11.1x | |||
| $6.5B | $627M | 0.7x | 0.6x | 6.9x | 7.5x | |||
| $5.4B | $663M | 0.9x | 0.9x | 7.0x | - | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Root competitors and their valuation data. Start Free Trial | ||||||||
Common questions about Root
| When was Root founded? | Root was founded in 1984. |
| Where is Root headquartered? | Root is headquartered in Toledo, OH, United States. |
| Is Root publicly listed? | No, Root was acquired by Accenture in April 2021. |
| Who acquired Root? | Root was acquired by Accenture in April 2021. |
| What is Root's valuation? | Root was last valued at $7.1B in its undisclosed-stage round in October 2020. |
| How much funding has Root raised? | Root has raised $500M across 1 funding round. |
| What was Root's last funding round? | Root's last funding round was a $500M undisclosed-stage round in October 2020, led by Dragoneer and Silver Lake. |
| Who are Root's investors? | Root's investors include Dragoneer and Silver Lake. |
| What is Root's revenue? | Root's latest recorded revenue is $432M (October 2020). |
| What is Root's revenue multiple? | Root's latest valuation implies a 16.4x revenue multiple ($7.1B valuation on $432M of revenue). |
| Which companies are comparable to Root? | Companies comparable to Root include BayCurrent, CREED, Andersen Group, Booz Allen, DKSH Holding and Aledade. |
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