iLife Promises Life Insurance Quotes In Under 7 Seconds

Insurtech veteran Nelson Lee is behind a new startup digitizing life insurance — a process he promises can happen in as little as seven seconds.

For a monthly fee — premium subscriptions start at $99 — insurance agents and brokers can access iLife's database of over 500,000 policies along with the software to help them match customers with the right plans.

"You would never have to hire a developer, you wouldn't need to know anything related to technology, you'll never need to buy Salesforce or use Wordpress," said Lee, founder and CEO of the SaaS startup.

Some customers, he said, call the platform "the Shopify of life insurance."

The Playa Vista-based company closed a $4 million seed round led by Foundation Capital to grow its team and launch new product features aimed at remaking the notoriously slow process.

According to the company, life insurance shoppers are typically left waiting between five and 14 business days for a quote. Meanwhile, agents can easily burn through thousands of dollars before getting their agencies off the ground.

Around 90% of Lee's users already sell other financial products and are looking to expand into life insurance.

"As a broker selling life insurance the traditional way for years, I knew the pain points in the process," said Jessica Leopore, founder of online life insurance company Surevested, which runs on iLife's software. "Quotes, applications and underwriting turnaround times were incredibly time-consuming and frustrating for both the agent and client alike."

iLife's platform, she said in a statement, streamlines the sales process "from quote to bind, freeing up our time to be more productive."

Four life insurance carriers and over 100 agencies and brokers currently use the platform in beta. It will launch to the public in June.