(Image source: Bestow website.)
Bestow (Dallas) has launched Bestow Labs, a dedicated team focused on developing AI-native products for the life and annuity insurance industry.
Jonathan Abelmann, Co-Founder and President, Bestow.
The company says Bestow Labs will pursue AI-native solutions for insurers while operating separately from Bestow’s production systems, allowing experimentation without affecting the regulated infrastructure carriers use today. The first Bestow Labs product offering is expected later this year.
The launch comes as Bestow expands its platform across the life and annuity insurance lifecycle, including new business, policy administration and digital purchase experiences. The company says its modular architecture lets carriers adopt capabilities as needed and expand without re-platforming.
“AI is integrated thoughtfully across our offerings, in ways that reflect what carriers need and how they want to work,” comments Jonathan Abelmann, Co-founder and President, Bestow. “Labs is where we go further. It’s the space to build what wasn’t viable even a year ago, using the most advanced AI-native approaches available, without putting a single component our carriers depend on today at risk.”
Melbourne O’Banion, CEO, Bestow.
Bestow says its platform now supports term life, whole life and indexed universal life products. The platform also includes illustration tooling intended to let agents move from quote to illustration to application to bind within the same environment.
“The carriers who win in the coming decades won’t be the ones who bolt AI onto old systems—they’ll be the ones who invest in a platform architected for the future,” comments Melbourne O’Banion, Co-founder and CEO, Bestow. “That’s what we’ve built. Many top carriers are preparing for a new era, which is why they’re choosing us.”
Bestow says carriers using its platform have seen conversion rates increase by as much as 300 percent. The company also says annual recurring revenue has grown more than 100 percent year over year for three consecutive years.
Chad Hersh, Head of AI Solutions, Bestow.
Key Executive Hires
The company has recently added executives across revenue, marketing and AI. Cindy De Armond joined as Chief Revenue Officer from Accenture; Meagan Ward joined as Chief Marketing Officer from Addepar; and Chad Hersh joined as Head of AI Solutions from Amazon to lead the first Bestow Labs product offering.
Founded in 2017, Bestow provides technology for life insurance and annuity carriers. The company says its customers include Nationwide, Transamerica, USAA, Sammons Financial Group and Equitable.
Bestow Raises $120 Million in Oversubscribed Series D Funding Round