Buying warranties for expensive and delicate personal electronics seems like such a no-brainer, yet the process of purchasing the right plan is still fraught with uncertainty. How does a consumer know that he or she isn’t overpaying to protect their device? That’s the problem that Boulder-based startup Peach is trying to solve. Peach taps into the smartphone’s ability to connect people with an online marketplace to deliver warranty options in seconds. 

 

The idea for a consumer-friendly option to compare smartphone warranties came to Peach's founder and CEO Luke Cooper from personal experience. A family member was buying electronics from a big box retailer and encountered the all-too-familiar problem of a confusing, and costly, warranty plan typed in small print. "When I asked around, the feeling toward this issue was unanimous and I saw that this was a big problem worth solving,” said Cooper. 

 

From that confusion and frustration, Peach was born. The marketplace allows users to run a search for the desired product and then returns the available warranties. Information on the plan is broken out by cost and lists key benefits and features, and there is zero fine print to read. The forthcoming app will run on smartphones and allow users to scan an item’s barcode to pull up the available plans. It will even recommend when insurance isn’t needed at all because a device is already covered on a credit card or similar protections. 

 

Peach unveiled a demo of the web marketplace for Boomtown Boulder in early November 2014. They currently have received $550,000 in seed funding. 

 

The team powering Peach’s marketplace is no stranger to the startup world. Both Cooper and Peach's CTO Christopher Garvis are graduates of startup incubator Techstars, and Cooper got his first taste of startup life by growing an IT firm to a $3.7 million exit within two years of its launch. Prior to the startup world, Cooper built his career in the insurance industry with State Farm.  

 

With their pedigree and passion for startups, the three person team behind Peach is excited about the opportunities in Boulder’s distinctive tech scene.  "In Boulder, the idea of taking risk to build something is embraced and supported. It’s a tactile place where the support is hands on and accessible,” said Cooper.