Ethos Technologies, a company based in San Francisco that provides software for selling life insurance, went public on Nasdaq this Thursday. As one of the first big tech IPOs of the year, this insurtech platform is being closely monitored as a potential indicator for upcoming listings in 2026.
In the offering, the company and its selling shareholders raised around $200 million by selling 10.5 million shares at $19 each, trading under the ticker symbol “LIFE,” which is quite fitting. Ethos offers a unique three-sided platform that allows consumers to purchase policies online in just 10 minutes, without needing medical exams. Over 10,000 independent agents utilize its software to sell policies, and well-known carriers like Legal & General America and John Hancock depend on it for underwriting and administrative functions. Notably, Ethos operates as a licensed agency, generating commissions from sales rather than functioning as an insurer itself.
On its first day of trading, the stock closed at $16.85, which is 11% lower than its IPO price of $19. Despite this, co-founders Peter Colis and Lingke Wang have much to celebrate, having built their 10-year-old business to a scale suitable for the public market.
“When we started out, there were about eight or nine other life insurtech startups that looked very similar to Ethos and had similar Series A funding,” Colis explained to TechCrunch. “Over time, most of those startups have either pivoted, been acquired at a subscale, remained small, or shut down.”
For instance, Policygenius, which raised over $250 million from investors like KKR and Norwest Venture Partners, was acquired in 2023 by PE-backed Zinnia. Meanwhile, Health IQ, a startup that attracted more than $200 million from major VCs such as Andreessen Horowitz, filed for bankruptcy the same year.
Ethos, which has secured over $400 million in venture capital, could have easily faced a similar outcome. However, the company focused heavily on achieving profitability as the era of easy cash and fundraising came to a close in 2022. “Not knowing what the ongoing funding climate would be, we got really serious about ensuring profitability,” Colis shared.
This focus on financial discipline allowed Ethos to become profitable by mid-2023, as noted in its IPO documents. Since then, the company has achieved over 50% year-over-year revenue growth. For the nine months ending September 30, 2025, Ethos reported nearly $278 million in revenue and just under $46.6 million in net income.
Despite the initial stock dip, Ethos ended its first day as a public entity with a market capitalization of around $1.1 billion, which is notably less than the $2.7 billion valuation it reached during its last private funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 in July 2021.
When asked about the reasoning for going public, Colis emphasized that one of the main goals was to establish “additional trust and credibility” with potential partners and clients. He pointed out that, given the age of many major insurance carriers, being publicly traded indicates the company’s resilience and future viability.
Major outside shareholders of Ethos include esteemed firms such as Sequoia, Accel, Google’s venture arm GV, and SoftBank, along with General Catalyst and Heroic Ventures. Notably, Sequoia and Accel opted not to sell any shares during the IPO, as the company disclosed.
