Former CompareGuru founders are rivalling their ex-employer in the comparison Web site space with their MoneyPanda offering.
The founders of MoneyPanda are Ryan Marx, former CEO of CompareGuru; and Jacqueline du Plessis, who was chief marketing officer.
Founded in 2017, MoneyPanda is a car insurance comparison platform that sources quotes from all major providers in real-time, while leveraging off peer-to-peer reviews of insurance services.
It allows consumers to make educated buying decisions based on quality of service as well as being premium-centric.
MoneyPanda is a unit of Harken Holdings, which also owns brands like InsureHero and e-commerce store JackMarx, among others.
"We use APIs [application programming interfaces] with insurers to retrieve quotes in real-time, after a client has filled in his/her data. We also use one-click WhatsApp communication for seamless lead delivery if the consumer does not have the time to complete the live journey," says Du Plessis.
CompareGuru used to be known as Click n Compare before it rebranded in 2016. The comparison site began by offering mobile and broadband package comparisons and later progressed to include additional financial services such as insurance, loans and other banking services.
Du Plessis says the difference between MoneyPanda and CompareGuru is that the former is based on not only on the cheapest premium, but also customer reviews and ratings.
"CompareGuru focuses more on price point when comparing providers on car insurance. Our view is that cheaper is not always best. We show consumer ratings with premiums, for consumers to make better buying decisions on a product like car insurance where value is not immediately seen until claims stage. We also have a newsroom and forum, which drives our thought leadership identity," says Du Plessis.
She points out that a difference in vision and direction of CompareGuru saw her and Marx leave the company.
"We saw more value in the digital acquisition and building of the brand of the company as being the key direction; our focus has always been improving the online experience for our consumers, helping consumers have a truly transparent journey. We parted amicably, with the benefit that we would be allowed to start a competitor," says Du Plessis.
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