Ethos

Ethos offers personalized term life insurance of up to 30-year terms for applicants between the ages of 20 - 65 (maximum coverage of USD 2 million) and whole life insurance for applicants between the ages of 65 - 85. Ethos relies on questions asked during the onboarding process and uses data science and machine learning to analyze over 300,000 data points in order to underwrite policies. The company claims that the process does not require a medical check-up, and policies are issued in minutes for most applicants. The company offers both term and whole life insurance policies starting at USD 8 per month per policy.

Ethos operates under an agency model, issuing policies written by insurance giants such as Legal & General, AAA Life, and TruStage. The company was licensed to operate in 49 states excluding New York as of March 2023.

In January 2022, Ethos acquired Tomorrow, a digital wills and estate-planning startup, for an undisclosed amount. Tomorrow offers a platform that enables individuals to set up digital wills and trusts, which include legal wills, trust-based estate plans, and life insurance products. Through the acquisition, Ethos intends to offer its own life insurance policies via Tomorrow’s app, which the company plans to roll out by mid-2022.

Key customers and partnerships

The company partnered with Ameritas to launch the Ethos Index Universal Life Insurance (IUL) product in January 2024. Ethos IUL offers death benefit protection along with financial advantages that include no-cost living benefits in case of illness, tax-advantaged growth potential, and a lifetime safety net providing liquidity both during working years and retirement.

Funding and financials

In May 2021, Ethos raised USD 200 million in a Series D funding round led by General Catalyst, valuing the company at USD 2 billion. Two months later, the company raised a further USD 100 million in funding from SoftBank Vision Fund 2, which valued the company over USD 2.7 billion. The company expects to use the funding for developing new products, expanding its workforce, and international growth.

The company had projected to issue USD 20 billion worth of life insurance policies in 2021, and it reported that its revenue and customers increased by more than 600% YoY in 2021.