Insurtech company Ethos has announced that it has raised $200 million in a Series D investment round, boosting its valuation to $2 billion. Revenue and users have grown by more than 500% year over year, and the company expects to issue $20 billion in life insurance coverage this year.
The funding round was led by General Catalyst. Past investors Sequoia Capital, Accel, GV (formerly Google Ventures), and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation also participated, as did Glade Brook Capital Partners. Ethos is also backed by the investment vehicles of actors Will Smith and Robert Downey Jr.
“We are on a mission to protect the next million families and will use this money to continue improving the best insurance customer experience ever created,” said Peter Colis, co-founder and CEO of Ethos. “This funding will help us enrich our technology and data platform and help us launch new products to enable everyone an opportunity to protect their families.”
Ethos underwrites, administers and distributes life insurance using machine learning and data science technologies.
Read next: Insurtech investment hits new record
“We’re very excited to invest in the vision and team at Ethos,” said Kyle Doherty, partner at General Catalyst. “Traditional life insurance remains largely unchanged over the years. It’s an area ripe for innovation, and Ethos’ successful execution demonstrates they are clearly ahead of all others in leading this digital transformation.”
“The US life insurance industry is one of the largest markets in the world, but it has been slow to move online,” said Nate Niparko, partner at Accel. “Ethos offers a completely modern experience that finally brings the life insurance market online, and the company is growing very quickly as a result.”
