Meanwhile, a Bermuda-based life insurer entirely denominated in cryptocurrency, raised $19M in two seed rounds.
The first seed was co-led by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Lachy Groom, previous head of Stripe issuing, while the second one was led by Gradient Ventures. Other backers included Muoro Capital (Santander), MS&AD Insurance Group’s venture arm, and Hudson Structured Capital Management. Additional angel investors included Parker Conrad, Dylan Field, Nick Schrock, 6th Man Ventures, Sam Blond of Founders Fund, Lauren Kolodny of Acrew, and Marc Bhavaga of General Catalyst, among others.
The company intends to use the funds to be licensed and regulated as an life insurance company by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, an insurance regulator, as well as hire to its initial team and launch its first product – Bitcoin (BTC)-denominated whole life insurance.
Led by CEO Zac Townsend, and CTO Max Gasner, Meanwhile is a life insurer with premiums and claims in cryptocurrency, creating core financial products denominated in Bitcoin (BTC). Its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered systems allow users to apply for their BTC life insurance policies, a tax-advantaged way to make a portion of policyholders’ Bitcoin active. The company’s licensed and regulated Bermuda subsidiary is entirely denominated in BTC, accepting all premiums and paying out all claims in BTC.
Following its initial launch, Meanwhile plans to build a full suite of cryptocurrency-denominated financial products, such as a BTC-denominated private credit fund and BTC-denominated term life insurance and accidental death coverage.
FinSMEs
08/06/2023