Bestow

Bestow is a digital life insurance provider that uses big data and AI to process the information provided by applicants, along with several other third-party data points such as prescription history, medical records, and criminal history to provide coverage in minutes (instead of relying on traditional approaches such as medical checkups). The company’s platform is able to review approximately 3,000 data points in real time to determine eligibility and pricing. The company offers policies with a maximum coverage of USD 1.5 million with tenors ranging from 10 to 30 years. Bestow’s term life products are available to individuals from ages 18 to 60.

Bestow underwrites its own policies as well as acts as an agent for policies issued by North American Company for Life and Health Insurance.

In November 2020, the company launched “ProtectAPI,” which enables eligible partners such as fintech companies to issue bespoke Bestow life insurance policies within their own apps; this was extended to a complete infrastructure suite in May 2022, where in addition to new SDK integrations to ProtectAPI, Bestow launched a web-based plug-and-play solution that allows companies to launch insurance in one day.

In December 2020, Bestow announced the acquisition of traditional life insurer Centurion Life Insurance Company for an undisclosed amount from Wells Fargo. Iowa-based Centurion is licensed to operate in 47 states and the District of Columbia. Bestow will continue operating under its current agency model, but will also leverage Centurion’s licenses to expand its geographic footprint and launch new products such as whole life policies and annuities. The transaction was completed in September 2021.

Key customers and partnerships

It partnered with financial services firm Equitable in December 2021 to offer Term-in-10, an entirely digital life insurance product. In addition, Lemonade, a digital homeowners and renters insurance provider, partnered with Bestow (in February 2021) to utilize Bestow’s ProtectAPI to offer life insurance products through its own digital channels, while Transamerica selected Bestow’s (in September 2023) turnkey solutions to develop its digital life insurance platform.

Funding and financials

In December 2020, the company raised USD 70 million in Series C funding from a group of new and existing investors, including Breyer Capital, Valar Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Core Innovation Ventures, Morpheus Ventures, and Sammons Financial. The company expects to use the funding to launch new products, scale its platform, and accelerate growth through new distribution channels.

As of December 2020, the company saw 450% YoY growth in the number of policies sold.