Connecture filed to go public in 2014, at the end of the first full enrollment season under the Affordable Care Act. The law had just opened public exchanges, and shopping for health insurance online was growing fast. Insurers, brokers and state exchanges used Connecture's software to show plans, compare prices and enroll customers. The company had spent years building those tools, and it saw a much larger role ahead.

Health Reform Opens a Door

Connecture was based in the Milwaukee area. It spent years building quoting and enrollment software for health insurers. Then health reform pushed more people to shop for their own coverage. The company bet that buying a plan would become a retail experience, and that insurers and exchanges would need software to support it. It sold that software to insurers across the country.

Customers Leave, Francisco Arrives

Connecture priced at $8 a share in December 2014, below its target range. The stock fell as some large customers left and losses grew. Francisco Partners invested in the company in 2016. In 2017 it agreed to take Connecture private for a small fraction of its offering value, and the deal closed in early 2018. The stock had traded on Nasdaq for about three years.

Cover: Waterloo Bridge, Gray Weather, Claude Monet. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for Waterloo Bridge in fog (a bridge to coverage).