One of Dallas' more well-funded fintechs has wrapped up a deal that will give it a nationwide reach.
According to a filing with the Insurance Commissioner of the State Iowa, bestow, a digital life insurance platform, has finalized its acquisition of Iowa-based Centurion Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary carrier of Wells Fargo, in a $2.32 million deal.
"Meeting the regulatory and seasoning requirements to be a nationally licensed life insurance company is incredibly challenging but worth the effort required to continue pioneering new solutions," said Melbourne O'Banion, CEO and co-founder of Bestow, in a statement. "As the first full-stack challenger carrier, we are excited to continue reimagining product design from the ground up as we expand the life insurance market to new customers and partners."
As part of the deal, Centurion will operate as Bestow Life Insurance Co., the filing states. It also says that Centurion has been in run-off, not writing new lines of taking on new reinsurance obligations for a "number of years," and that the company will cede its insurance and annuity policies and contracts to Bermuda's Somerset Reinsurance Ltd. As Bestow Life Insurance, a wholly-owned subsidiary will continue to have a "significant presence" in Iowa.
Previously, Bestow operated as a licensed life insurance carrier in Texas and an agent and third-party administrator of life insurance policies through North American Co. for Life and Health Insurance. With the acquisition, the startup will have licenses in 47 states, along with Washington, D.C. The move accelerates Bestow's previous plans to expand state-by-state and will allow it to develop and launch its products.
The deal comes at a time when life insurance policy sales are at their highest level since 1983, according to Forbes, which says the number of policies sold in the first six months of 2021 is up 8% compared to the same time in previous years.
That increase has translated into growth for Bestow. Last December, the company landed a $70 million Series C funding round, bringing its total to $145 million. At the time, the company said its sales were up about 450 percent year-over-year from January to OctobeBestow'sw's team has also been growing. The company has about 180 employees in Dallas and Austin, with close to 80 hires made in the last three monthIt'st's looking to hire about 70 more employees by the end of the year. To accommodate, Bestow is moving its headquarters from just outside downtown Dallas to Deep Ellum, taking up more than 42,000 square feet of space across 1.5 floors as it embraces a hybrid work mode".
"By offering a more robust product suite on our platform, we can provide partners with personalized life insurance experiences that meet the unique needs of their customers" s," said Jonathan Abelmann, president and co-founder of Bestow, in a statement.
