(Bloomberg) — Life-insurance startup Ladder raised $100 million in equity funding from investors led by Thomvest Ventures and OMERS Growth Equity.
The Palo Alto, California-based company is now valued at $900 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The company has issued its first policies through its insurance carrier, which makes it the first fully digital life insurer, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Hale said in an interview.
“There is an opportunity to modernize every one of the life-insurance products to really meet the needs of a modern consumer,” Hale said, adding that his company is on the “right path” given its popularity with customers and strong growth metrics. He declined to provide specifics.
Ladder is projected to hit $100 million in run-rate revenue by the end of 2022, said a person with knowledge of the matter. The company expects to have issued $30 billion in policies by the end of this year, Hale said. Ladder said it uses technology to inform its underwriting and can offer coverage within minutes.
Insurance-technology companies are increasingly making stock-market debuts, with Lemonade Inc. going public in 2020, Hippo Holdings Inc. merging with a blank-check firm this year and Kin Insurance Inc. agreeing to do the same.
“There’s an opportunity to build a brand and the online consumer experience within life insurance,” said Don Butler, a managing director at Thomvest, who is joining Ladder’s board. Thomvest has backed other fintech companies, including SoFi Technologies Inc., LendingClub Corp. and Kabbage, and believes Ladder can become a dominant player in its category, Butler said.
“Millions of families in North America don’t have life-insurance coverage because the process to get insured can be painfully complicated, even opaque,” Saar Pikar, a managing director at OMERS Growth Equity, said in an emailed statement. “Ladder simplifies that process,” he added, noting that OMERS seeks to back companies that remove friction for customers, among other features.
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