Life insurance group Ethos Technologies has filed for a US initial public offer, with plans to trade on the Nasdaq.  

Ethos says selling and administering life insurance “has not meaningfully improved in several decades” and consumers face “slow, complex and opaque application processes that often discourage them from obtaining the coverage they need”.

It says it offers “three-way” technology for insurers, agents and consumers.  

Ethos was valued at $US2.7 billion ($4.12 billion) in 2021, when it raised $US300 million ($458 million) across two rounds.  

Google Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Accel, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, General Catalyst, rap artist Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, and co-founders Peter Colis and Lingke Wang have all invested.  

Ethos says life insurance sales agents are “required to navigate complex underwriting guidelines and rely on legacy, disparate technology applications that distract from insurance sales, create long sales cycles and make case management labour-intensive”.

Insurers “rely on analogue underwriting processes and siloed data, which limits the speed and scale at which they can distribute policies”.

It adds the “cumbersome nature of legacy life insurance processes has led insurers and agents to increasingly focus on the high net worth segment, where the complexity and cost of servicing are offset by larger premiums and higher lifetime commission value.

“We believe this focus has left a significant untapped opportunity in the mass affluent and middle market segments, where there is a growing demand for simplified and accessible life insurance solutions.”

Ethos was founded in 2018 and has more than 450,000 policies active. Its revenue was $US320 million ($489 million) in the year to June, up 57%, on a gross margin of 98%.