SquareTrade Inc. is an American

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service provider for consumer electronics and appliances headquartered in San Francisco's

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district.

Dispute resolution services

Co-founded in 1999 by Steve Abernethy and Ahmed Khaishgi, SquareTrade launched as the first online service for resolving e-commerce disputes. Working with online marketplaces such as

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, the company utilized an online negotiation tool to automate the dispute resolution process between sellers and buyers. Between 1999 and 2001, SquareTrade raised $15M from

JP Morgan Partners CCMP Capital is an American private equity investment firm that focuses on leveraged buyout and growth capital transactions. Formerly known as JP Morgan Partners, the investment professionals of JP Morgan Partners separated from JPMorgan Chase o ...

, Weston Presidio Capital and Draper Richards. That same year, the company launched a merchant-verification service, the SquareTrade Seal. Both original services have since been discontinued.

Warranty services

In 2006, SquareTrade began providing consumer protection plans for portable devices, appliances, and other electronics, both on-line and through large retailers. ''

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'' listed it as number 93 in its list of the best 100 web sites of the year. In 2012,

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and

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announced they were investing $238 million in the company, marking the second largest

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deal of the year. The company's

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has been AmTrust Financial Services, Inc., but as of 2013, SquareTrade was shifting toward Starr Indemnity. SquareTrade was acquired by Allstate in late 2016, for $1.4 billion, joining Allstate's suite of consumer asset protection services.

Lawsuit

A class action law-suit was filed late 2016 against SquareTrade for selling protection plans to customers for products that are not eligible for coverage, where customers would only find out when filing a claim.

References

External links

* {{Official website American companies established in 1999 Financial services companies established in 1999 Companies based in San Francisco 2016 mergers and acquisitions Insurance companies of the United States 1999 establishments in California Allstate Financial services companies based in California American corporate subsidiaries