Company rebrands as Angi
Angie’s List was the most recognizable name under Denverbased Angi Homeservices’s brand umbrella.
By dropping the “List” and the E, as the newly minted Angi did as part of a major rebranding announced Wednesday, the company is eschewing recognizability in favor of accuracy and ambition, CEO Oisin Hanrahan said.
“You rewind 20 odd years, and it was an unbelievably innovative and helpful thing. It was amazing to have a list of people you can turn to for needs in your home,” Hanrahan said. “You fast-forward to today, and consumer expectations have just changed. We’re no longer a list. We’re so much more than that.”
The name change didn’t just touch Angi. Denver-based home services advisory and referral business HomeAdvisor — which absorbed then chief-rival Angie’s List before a public offering in 2017 — is now “HomeAdvisor, powered by Angi,” according to a company news release. Parent company Angi HomeServices is now just Angi Inc. The company’s ticker symbol, already ANGI, is staying the same,
A new name and logo are part of the company’s deeper renovation job. Behind Angi are updated offerings, a new website and a new app.
Instead of just a list of home service professionals with reviews from other customers, Angi is now offering pre-priced services, app-based messaging, appbased payment options and even financing, company officials said.
“If you kind of remove the boundaries,” Hanrahan said, “we hope we can build Angi into the home for everything home.”
Hanrahan came into the Angi fold in 2018 when the company acquired Handy, the online gig work marketplace startup he co-founded.
He was Angi’s chief product officer in charge of technology strategy before being named CEO last month, taking over for departed HomeAdvisor veteran Brandon Ridenour.
“I think the technology product is really, really important,” Hanrahan said. “The experience starts with the digital product. It’s your first interaction with us.”
Angi pegs home services as a $500 billion industry that, like services from ordering fast food to getting a checkup at the doctor, is moving more and more online. Wednesday’s rebrand is the company moving to meet customers where they are, company officials say.
Despite business all but disappearing for an approximately three-week window at the outset of the pandemic, last spring Angi Inc. had a strong year in 2020, Hanrahan said. It was aided by many Americans deciding to invest in the homes the virus had relegated them to for extended
periods.
ANGI stock closed at $16.33 a share Wednesday, a more than threefold increase over the $5.25 it closed at on March 1, 2020.
“On average, it looked like a pretty normal year. But if you zoom in, it was a pretty wild ride,” Hanrahan said.
“It was not a year for the faint of heart.”
Angi Inc. has about 5,000 employees, Hanrahan said.
Most of them are working remotely right now, but the company maintains headquarters offices in Denver, New York City and Indianapolis.