Austin has a new insuretech startup, and it's launching with strong backing from local investors.
Life by Spot was co-founded by CEO Matt Randall, who previously founded art marketplace TWYLA, and COO Maria Miller, a former New York Life executive. It provides short-term life insurance for thrill seekers who are doing things like scaling mountains, riding big waves and scuba diving in the depths.
The startup announced Friday that it has closed a $5.8 million round of funding led by Silverton Partners, an Austin venture capital firm.
“Obtaining life insurance is a complicated and time-consuming process, and Spot aims to change that,” Miller said in a news release. “We’re not only expanding the market but also creating an entirely new distribution channel for life coverage; we’re reaching a target demographic that traditionally has been untouchable by traditional life insurers, and we’re just scratching the surface of what is possible.”
Randall began working on the new startup shortly after leaving TWYLA in 2017. And the insurance business is a tricky space to work in because of all the regulations and the relationships required to coordinate life insurance coverage for short-term events.
Spot says that on average Americans under age 45 account for less than 5 percent of people who have life insurance coverage. The company aims to give people a new option -- policies that last anywhere from a day to a month. The policies start at $7 a day, and they are issued by Fidelity Life Association and reinsured by Hannover Life Reassurance Company of America.
“Life by Spot encourages people to live life to the fullest,” Randall said in a news release. “For the first time in the U.S., customers can quickly and easily obtain a short term life insurance policy to give them peace of mind as they live out a life of adventure, whatever adventure means to them. For some, that is climbing Mount Everest and diving the Great Barrier Reef; for others, that may mean the courage to take a road trip. Whatever it may be, we believe life is meant to be lived without anything holding you back.”
