How Ethos, supported by Sequoia, made it to the public market as competitors lagged behind

Ethos Technologies Makes Nasdaq Debut

Ethos Technologies, a San Francisco-based company specializing in software for life insurance sales, began trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday. As one of the first significant tech IPOs of the year, Ethos is being closely observed as an indicator for the upcoming 2026 IPO cycle.

The company, along with its existing shareholders, secured around $200 million through the sale of 10.5 million shares at $19 each, trading under the ticker “LIFE”—a fitting symbol for its business. Ethos operates a three-sided digital platform, allowing customers to purchase life insurance online in just 10 minutes without the need for medical exams. More than 10,000 independent agents use Ethos’s technology to sell these policies, while major insurers such as Legal & General America and John Hancock utilize the platform for underwriting and administrative tasks. Ethos itself does not underwrite insurance; instead, it acts as a licensed agency, earning commissions from policy sales.

Although Ethos’s shares ended their first trading day at $16.85—about 11% below the IPO price—co-founders Peter Colis and Lingke Wang have reason to be proud, having scaled the company over the past decade to reach the public markets.

“When we started, there were eight or nine other life insurance tech startups that looked a lot like Ethos and had similar Series A funding,” Colis shared with TechCrunch. “Most of those companies have since pivoted, been acquired at a smaller scale, or shut down.”

For example, Policygenius, which attracted over $250 million from investors such as KKR and Norwest Venture Partners, was acquired by Zinnia in 2023. Meanwhile, Health IQ, which raised over $200 million from backers like Andreessen Horowitz, filed for bankruptcy that same year.

Ethos, which has secured more than $400 million in venture funding, could have faced a similar outcome. Instead, the company prioritized profitability as the era of easy fundraising ended in 2022. “With uncertainty around future funding, we became very focused on achieving profitability,” Colis explained.

This disciplined approach led Ethos to become profitable by mid-2023, according to its IPO filings. Since then, the company has maintained annual revenue growth exceeding 50%. In the nine months ending September 30, 2025, Ethos reported nearly $278 million in revenue and close to $46.6 million in net income.

Despite these achievements, Ethos finished its first day as a public company with a market value of about $1.1 billion—well below the $2.7 billion valuation it received in its last private funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 in July 2021.

Why Go Public?

When asked about the motivation behind Ethos’s IPO, Colis said that going public was largely about building “greater trust and credibility” with potential partners and clients. He noted that many established insurance companies have been around for over a century, and being listed on a public exchange demonstrates Ethos’s long-term commitment.

Key Investors

• Sequoia
• Accel
• GV (Google Ventures)
• SoftBank
• General Catalyst
• Heroic Ventures

According to company disclosures, Sequoia and Accel chose not to sell any shares during the IPO.