Insurtech Bestow lands $120M Series D from Goldman Sachs, Smith Point Capital

Melbourne O’Banion co-founded insurtech Bestow with Jonathan Abelmann successful 2017 aft struggling to unafraid his ain beingness security policy.

His extremity was to marque it easier for radical to get beingness security and marque the process much tech-enabled.

Initially, Bestow operated arsenic a direct-to-consumer security supplier — selling, underwriting, and servicing beingness security policies. In those archetypal fewer years, the startup processed implicit a cardinal applications. Its no-exam underwriting level gained traction during the COVID pandemic arsenic accepted aesculapian exams were paused. As it grew its D2C business, Bestow successful parallel developed bundle to assistance modernize the full process. 

Recognizing the worth successful that software, Bestow successful 2024 sold its security bearer and user concern to Sammons Financial Group for an undisclosed amount. It switched its absorption to providing its bundle and services to different beingness security companies truthful those companies could “become much digital” and thus, much efficiently service their customers.

And connected Tuesday, the Dallas-based institution is announcing that it has raised $120 cardinal successful Series D backing to motorboat caller products and underwriting capabilities, it has told TechCrunch exclusively. The fundraise, which O’Banion described arsenic “oversubscribed,” was a premix of $75 cardinal successful superior and $45 cardinal successful secondary investments. 

Goldman Sachs Alternatives’ Growth Equity and ex-Salesforce co-CEO Keith Block’s Smith Point Capital co-led the investment. In summation to the equity financing, Bestow besides secured a $50 cardinal recognition installation from TriplePoint Capital. O’Banion declined to uncover Bestow’s valuation, noting lone that it had “approximately doubled” since the institution raised $70 million successful a Series C circular successful December 2020. With this latest financing, Bestow has raised much than $300 cardinal successful equity backing to date.

O’Banion besides declined to uncover hard gross figures, saying that Bestow’s yearly recurring gross grew 3x successful 2024, and “10x” implicit the past 2 years. Its gross exemplary is endeavor SaaS (software-as-a-service) and performance-based. The bulk of its gross comes from usage fees. Ashwin Gupta, a Goldman Sachs Alternatives’ Growth Equity squad partner, told TechCrunch that helium was attracted to backing Bestow for respective reasons. For one, its founders were repetition founders who had “successfully pivoted the business.” (Melbourne besides co-founded BeautyBio and is simply a founding subordinate of Presidio Title. Abelmann co-founded publically traded Invitation Homes.)

Gupta besides thinks its SaaS exemplary gives it an borderline implicit much bequest competitors.

“Bestow has an charismatic extremity marketplace that is large, resilient and comparatively underserved by modern technology…,” helium said. Gupta, who is joining Bestow’s committee arsenic portion of the financing, besides noted that helium was impressed by Bestow’s quality to person won respective ample customers who were expanding their usage of its platform.

Its customers see Nationwide, Transamerica, USAA, Sammons Financial Group, and Equitable, among others.

Other backers see Breyer Capital, Valar Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Core Innovation Ventures, Morpheus Ventures, and Sammons Financial. 

Bestow, which has 167 employees, presently operates successful the U.S. and is considering an planetary expansion.