Ethos
Unicorn · $2.7BFounded 2016 · 1,074 employees on LinkedIn · 22 known investors
Find your way into Ethos
Ethos provides online life insurance that customers can purchase entirely through a digital platform without the traditional lengthy application process. The company partners with established insurance carriers to offer life insurance products to consumers seeking affordable protection.
Also known as Ethos Life · Ethos Life Insurance · Ethos Technologies
Founders & leadership
Ethos was founded in 2016 by Lingke Wang, Peter Colis, and Lingke W..
Investors · 22
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Also in the syndicate · 2
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements$22.8M disclosed across 1 of 3 rounds · 2018–2026
- $22.8MSeries AMay 2026 · 3 sources
a16z (lead), General Catalyst (lead), Common Magic, Evantic Capital, XTX Markets
Source ↗
Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.
Valuation · disclosed
Disclosed eventsSource: SEC prospectus filings, and round valuations the company or its investors disclosed — follow each entry's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Ethos is a digital life insurance provider that lets consumers get quoted and covered online, marketing an application process that can be completed in about 10 minutes without a medical exam. Products described on its site include term life, whole life and other permanent coverage, guaranteed issue life insurance, final expense insurance, indexed universal life (IUL), and no-medical-exam policies, with coverage amounts of up to $3 million. Rates are calculated in real time from answers to online health and lifestyle questions, and applicants can activate coverage the same day.
Alongside insurance, Ethos offers estate planning tools, including online wills and living trusts, which the company states are included free with a life insurance policy (described as a $898 value) or can be bought separately. The company positions itself as an alternative to traditionally sold life insurance, contrasting instant underwriting, no exams and same-day coverage with agent-mediated processes. It also runs an agent-facing channel, "Ethos for agents," with agent sign-up and login, and publishes consumer education resources such as life insurance basics, premium explainers, coverage-amount guides and rate comparisons.
Business model
Ethos distributes life insurance policies underwritten by partner carriers directly to consumers through its own online platform, and additionally offers estate planning documents (wills and trusts) that are bundled free with a policy or sold on a standalone basis. A separate agent channel allows independent agents to join and place business through Ethos [0].
Revenue is generated through the sale of life insurance policies from partner carriers placed via its digital platform, and from standalone sales of estate planning products such as wills and trusts [0].
Traction
The site cites more than 7,000 Trustpilot reviews with a 4.9 rating [0].
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market
Market position
Ethos describes itself as the leading no-medical-exam instant life insurance provider and the top online estate planning provider, and offers price comparison across multiple partner carriers [0].
Fully online purchase with instant underwriting and no medical exam, coverage in roughly 10 minutes, same-day activation, quotes sourced from multiple carriers, a money-back guarantee, access to human support, and bundled free wills and trusts [0].
Technology
The platform uses instant, algorithmic underwriting driven by an online questionnaire in place of medical exams, calculating and presenting rates in real time and allowing coverage to be activated the same day. Estate planning documents can be created digitally from a mobile device [0].
Go-to-market
Direct-to-consumer online acquisition via quote funnels ("Check my price"), search-oriented educational content and resource pages, customer review social proof, celebrity endorsement (MLB Hall of Famer David Ortiz), and a partner channel for independent agents [0].
Individual consumers shopping for life insurance across a range of budgets, including those seeking no-medical-exam coverage, seniors, buyers of final expense policies, and people whose employer-provided coverage may be insufficient; also independent insurance agents who place business through Ethos [0].
Compiled by commissioned research from 9 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Competitors · 4
by search overlap
Companies competing with Ethos for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 5
launches, deals, and filingsEthos Technologies went public on the Nasdaq under the ticker LIFE, valued at $1.2 billion in its debut.
Ethos Technologies filed for an initial public offering in September 2025; Reuters reported a 55% revenue surge disclosed at the time.
Ethos was valued at $2.7 billion following a $100 million investment from SoftBank.
$100M source ↗
Ethos announced a $35 million Series B led by Accel with participation from GV, existing investors Sequoia Capital and Arrive (a Roc Nation subsidiary), plus a debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank, bringing total funding to more than $46 million.
$35M source ↗
In connection with the Series B, Accel partner Nate Niparko joined the Ethos board of directors and GV General Partner Tyson Clark became an advisor to the board.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
Frequently asked questions
- What does Ethos do?
- Ethos sells term, whole and other life insurance online with instant, no-medical-exam underwriting, plus free wills and trusts.
- Who founded Ethos?
- Ethos was founded by Lingke Wang, Peter Colis, Lingke W. in 2016.
- Who are Ethos's investors?
- Ethos's investors include Accel, Adit Ventures Management, Llc, Evolution VC Partners, Flying Fish Ventures, Founders Circle Capital, General Catalyst, Glynn Capital Management, MGV.VC and 12 more.
- How much funding has Ethos raised?
- Ethos has disclosed $22.8M raised across 1 of its 3 known rounds.