Backed by prominent venture capital firms Accel and Sequoia, Ethos is targeting a valuation of up to $1.26 billion in its initial public offering, according to details released on Tuesday. The company and certain existing shareholders are seeking to raise as much as $210.5 million through the sale of 10.5 million shares priced between $18 and $20 each.
Ethos plans to sell 5.1 million newly issued shares, while existing investors—including Alphabet’s venture capital arm GV and General Catalyst—are offering a combined 5.4 million shares in the flotation.
The offering comes after a strong year for insurance IPOs in 2025, when first-time share sales in the sector reached a 20-year high on Wall Street. Investor interest was buoyed by the perception that insurance companies were relatively insulated from the effects of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war, driving renewed appetite for the sector.
Although Ethos publicly filed for the IPO in late September, the company did not proceed with a listing in 2025. Market activity was disrupted by last year’s prolonged U.S. government shutdown, which temporarily halted operations at the Securities and Exchange Commission and pushed several planned offerings into 2026.
Founded in 2016 by Peter Colis and Lingke Wang, Ethos operates a technology platform that partners with insurance carriers to offer life insurance products to families across the United States. The company has positioned itself as a digital-first alternative in a traditionally complex and paper-heavy industry.
Ethos reported solid financial growth ahead of the offering. For the nine months ended September 30, the company posted a net income of $46.6 million on revenue of $277.5 million, compared with a net income of $39.3 million on revenue of $188.4 million in the same period a year earlier.
The company previously raised $100 million in a 2021 funding round led by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, which valued Ethos at $2.7 billion at the time.
Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan are serving as lead book-running managers for the IPO. Ethos is expected to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “LIFE.”