It’s a landmark anniversary for GJW Direst, here’s the word;
GJW Direct, the Liverpool-born specialist marine insurance provider owned by Digital MGA Ripe, is marking its 200th anniversary this week. The milestone lands as the business – acquired in 2024 – completes its first full year operating on Ripe’s proprietary technology platform.
GJW Direct traces its roots to 1826, when it was founded in the Liverpool docks by Groves, John and Westrup as an underwriting partnership serving the city’s maritime trade. From its beginnings serving the busy port, it now protects tens of thousands of boat owners across the UK.
The company was acquired by Manchester-based Ripe in 2024, in a deal designed to bring two centuries of specialist marine underwriting expertise onto modern technology and customer experience infrastructure. Since then, Ripe has rebuilt GJW Direct’s proposition on Juice, which marks its own first anniversary this month.
This re-platforming has enhanced both the customer experience and operational efficiency, delivering a faster and more intuitive purchase journey. This is supporting significantly stronger customer retention and continued business growth, with revenue currently over 20% ahead of the same period last year.
Today, GJW Direct covers a broad range of leisure craft, from yachts and narrowboats to RIBs and paddleboards, with a Marina Scheme spanning more than 1,000 UK marinas.
GJW Direct has also maintained a long-standing partnership with the RNLI since 2018. One in eight GJW customers has needed the charity’s help in the past, underlining the importance of the partnership to the business’s own customer base. In total, Ripe and GJW Direct have contributed over £375,000 to support the RNLI’s water safety education and lifesaving work.
Alan Thomas, CEO of Ripe, said: “Two hundred years in business is a rare achievement, and it’s not something any business gets to simply by surviving – it comes from the trust customers place in you, year after year, generation after generation. GJW Direct has earned this through two centuries of specialism in marine insurance, and our focus now is on combining that expertise with the technology and customer experience that today’s policyholders expect. It’s a privilege to be writing the next chapter of that history, for every customer and colleague who has been part of the story so far.”
GJW Direct will mark its 200th anniversary throughout the remainder of 2026, with continued investment in its products and technology platform, and ongoing support for the RNLI’s water safety work.
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