Elephant Insurance cuts ribbon

Elephant Insurance held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday at its new office on East Shore Drive in Glen Allen.

The company, which is a division of U.K.-based Admiral Group, sold its first car insurance policy at the start of the month and sells only in Virginia for now.

Elephant has about 45 employees spread out in two main sections of the 26,000-square-foot space. That office used to belong to Capital One, which left its cubicles and furniture for Elephant.

That makes it the second Richmond-based insurance start-up that scored free furnishings. You can read a Q&A with the founder of Kinsale insurance here.

Most of the Elephant’s ’s call center employees appear to be under 30 years old. According to one, they are making 40 calls a day to people who have inquired about car insurance online.

Elephant will start its TV advertising blitz next year, said Jennifer Linton,  director of marketing. The company has hired Revolution Advertising in Richmond to produce the spots.

The company says it will double the number of employees in coming quarters.

Elephant’s CEO, Andrew Rose, was at the ribbon-cutting along with representatives from the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Richmond Partnership.

The company’s business model aims to cut costs wherever possible.

The party favors included little bags of peanuts.

Aaron Kremer is the BizSense editor. Please send news tips to editor@richmondbizsense.com.