Ethos’ users have grown by more than 500% year over year. Credit: Tumisu from Pixabay.

Ethos, a US-based insurtech focused on life insurance, has raised $100m in funding from SoftBank Vision Fund 2, which takes its valuation to $2.7bn.

The insurtech startup has backing from the likes of rapper Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and the investment vehicles of Hollywood stars Will Smith and Robert Downey Jr.

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Other investors in the firm include General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital; Accel; GV (formerly Google Ventures).

The firm has so far raised $400m and the late-stage funding round follows a $200m Series D round of funding in May this year.

Ethos plans to double its workforce by the end of this year and expects to issue $20bn of life insurance coverage in 2021.

Ethos said it aims to ‘democratise’ the life insurance space by leveraging machine learning and data science technologies to remove traditional barriers.

It claims to have recorded more than 500% year-over-year growth in revenue and user base.

Ethos CEO and co-founder Peter Colis said: “Our goal isn’t just to offer the best insurance customer experience ever created but to offer it to everyone. Even at this early stage, we’ve demonstrated that our technology can do this with life insurance. We’re excited to apply our technology and data platform in new ways to expand that safety net even further.”

The insurtech noted that more than 40% of new insureds in the first half of 2021 had incomes of $60,000 or less. Almost 40% of new policyholders were under the age of 40.

“Since 1 January 2021, the top five occupations held by new policy owners are homemaker, insurance agent, business owner, teacher, and registered nurse,” Ethos added.

SoftBank investment advisers managing partner Munish Varma said: “Ethos is leveraging data and its vertically integrated tech stack to fundamentally transform life insurance in the US. Through a fast and user-friendly online application process, the company can accurately underwrite and insure a broad segment of customers quickly.”