San Francisco-based Ethos — a company that makes life insurance simpler and more affordable — has announced it raised $35 million in Series B funding. This brings Ethos’ total funding to $46 million. Ethos plans to use this round of funding to support the company’s growth and revolutionize the life insurance industry.
And the funding will also help Ethos serve the growing demand from customers and accelerate its mission to transform the $955 billion life insurance market into more of a digitally-driven industry.
“Ethos is proving that life insurance is something that can be bought by consumers, and not sold,” said Ethos CEO and co-founder Peter Colis. “We are proud to partner with Accel, Sequoia and GV on our mission to make simple, ethical life insurance.”
Photo: Ethos founders Lingke Wang (CTO and co-founder) and Peter Colis (CEO and co-founder)
This round of funding was led by Accel Partners. Google Ventures also participated in this round along with existing investors Sequoia Capital and Roc Nation (a company founded by rapper Jay-Z) subsidiary Arrive. Silicon Valley Bank also provided a debt facility as part of this round.
In conjunction with this round of funding, Accel partner Nate Niparko is going to be joining Ethos’ board of directors. And Google Ventures general partner Tyson Clark is going to become an advisor for the company’s board.
“The life insurance industry has had a product and reputation problem for a long time,” added Accel partner Nate Niparko. “Ethos takes a technology-first approach to eliminate friction from the applications and claims process for its customers and has built a brand that people love and trust. We’re excited to partner with Peter, Lingke and the rest of the Ethos team to help modernize life insurance.”
Ethos makes the process of getting a life insurance policy easier and inexpensive. And it takes an archaic process and turns it into a process as simple as shopping online.
With Ethos, most people are able to apply and qualify for a policy after a ten-minute application compared to the ten weeks it takes for more traditional processes. Plus there is always a non-commissioned licensed agent available to provide unbiased guidance. Ethos processes thousands of customers and applications every month.
Through its proprietary technology, Ethos has modernized life insurance to help American families. And in 2018 alone, Ethos has seen substantial growth as its revenue, customers, and applications grew by more than 400% in the past four months.
Ethos applies data science and predictive analytics to determine an individual’s life expectancy. And more than 99% of Ethos’ customers did not require a medical exam or blood test to get a policy. Some of Ethos’ life insurance partners include Assurity Life and Munich Re.
