Software house Sprintgrace has transferred its assets to a new company, Broker Soft, this week after chief executive Gary Weatherill clinched capital backing to create the new entity, a broker claimed this week.
But Sprintgrace was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.
In its peak, Sprintgrace had a user base of more than 600 brokers and intermediaries, but an industry source claimed this has dwindled fewer than 100 users.
Three weeks ago, Weatherill was forced to write to the Sprintgrace broker base and at least one insurer, seeking funding to create the new company, Broker Soft.
The broker, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Insurance Times: "Sprintgrace has had some financial difficulties over the past few years and this move is not really a surprise.
"The Sprintgrace system is a very good one, but there are lots of insurers who don't offer guarantees on it."
Two years ago, the company suffered a massive blow, losing its biggest client, the AA.
That loss caused Weatherill to increase charges to the Sprintgrace user base nearly two-fold. Some brokers and intermediaries accepted the increase while others switched software houses.
Then, three weeks ago, Weatherill sent out another letter informing users that it had transferred the assets of Sprintgrace to the new entity.
It is believed that the new company, Broker Soft, has already secured up to £300,000 of investment funding, with Weatherill no longer being the majority shareholder in the company.
The Broker Soft system is expected to be a complete change from the Sprintgrace offering, written from scratch as a Windows-based application.
