Sproutt founders: Yoav Shaham – CEO & Co Founder, Itai Brickner – Co Founder & CTO, Assaf Henkin – Co Founder & President
Life insurance provider Sproutt Insurance recently revealed that it has launched and acquired $12 million in funding via a Series A round from State of Mind Ventures (SMOV), Moneta Capital, and Guardian Life.
Sproutt says it aims to do what many of today’s life insurance industry participants are not doing, which is to “celebrate life.”
Sproutt intends to “look after the lives of those who look after theirs.” The company uses its “Quality of Life Index” (QL Index) which reveals that it has never been so easy to merge data analytics and “human-aligned health insights,” and then use artificial intelligence (AI) to determine an individual’s life potential, in order to match them up with the appropriate life insurance package.
Sproutt’s CEO and co-founder Yoav Shaham, stated:
“We don’t come from the life insurance industry. But we have a lot of experience in unlocking the value of data in traditional markets. For decades life insurance providers have mainly sought to punish negative lifestyle choices such as smoking when calculating pricing.”
Shaham added:
“As crazy as it sounds, until now the industry has almost never even tried to reward people for being healthy; for being active, eating and sleeping well, or living a balanced life. Sproutt ensures that people who make positive lifestyle choices that improves their longevity are supported and rewarded with the best policies, and that they adopt these good behaviors, as it means that we all will have increasingly less expenses.”
Andrew McMahon, executive VP at Guardian Life Insurance Company, one of the country’s largest mutual life insurance providers, noted:
“Sproutt’s vision of personalized life insurance directly aligns with Guardian’s focus on providing [a quality] customer experience.”
McMahon mentioned that his firm began working with Sproutt last year, which is when they realized the potential impact their tech might have on business processes and the industry in general.
McMahon added:
“Their … use of data and artificial intelligence across the customer journey is part of a broader transformation of the industry and complements our technology driven approach to customer acquisition and engagement.”
Life insurance is a $130 billion business that has experienced a 45% decline in policyholders in the past 20 years. The industry has not been able to get enough consumers to purchase its products, even though it would seem that insuring one’s life and protecting their family should be a priority.
One of the reasons why people might not be buying life insurance is that the market is still dependent on legacy systems, attitudes, and thinking.
Shaham remarked:
“This industry is like data spaghetti that nobody has been able to untangle. We started with a clean plate and asked ourselves, how can we measure somebody’s quality of life, and how can we deliver the best experience and policy based on that?”
As explained in a release:
“The ability to discern ‘positive data’ is particularly important when we see consumers providing huge amounts of information about their personal health. So whether you’re eating well, running twice a week, practicing yoga, quitting smoking, etc. are all contributing to a lifestyle measure that is not accurately priced in the premiums they pay today for life insurance.”
Sproutt’s product, “Gaia” (guy-a), the Guided Artificial Intelligence Assessment technology platform, is able to “assess and correlate a variety of previously siloed human health attributes such as sleeping patterns, eating habits, and whether you own a pet, and then leverage them for a more precise assessment of a specific individual’s health.”
The assessment provides personalized insights, recommendations, and matches people with the appropriate life insurance product.
Assaf Henkin, president of Sproutt, noted:
“Breathing new life and positivity into an old industry has been both a challenge and a privilege. Sproutt believes life insurance is critical, because it protects that which is most dear to us: our families. This is why life should be celebrated.”
He added:
“We saw how to use data and AI for good to benefit consumers and disrupt an industry that has failed to modernize. Sproutt provides people with a high quality experience and guides them to the life insurance they deserve, many times the same day they apply.”