Haven Life, a digitally focused subsidiary of MassMutual, has acquired Quilt, an insurtech that opened in 2015 and had been offering renters' and term life insurance through digital channels.
The companies are exiting Quilt's involvement in those lines and plan to use the Quilt platform to sell annuities products starting in 2019, says Haven Life CEO Yaron Ben-Zvi. The underwriters for Quilt's existing customers, Security First and Stillwater Insurance Group, will service customers directly. Ben-Zvi says the strategic shift is due to a believe in annuities as an untapped resource that can complement the term life products that are more commonly offered through insurtech channels.
"As people live longer than ever before and pensions become a thing of the past, longevity is noticeably absent from many peoples' financial preparedness," he explains. "We see a great opportunity in annuities, and see it and term life insurance as two sides of the same coin: Term life insurance addresses the question of 'what if I die too young?' while annuities are a response to 'what if I live longer than expected?'"
Haven Life is still pondering what brand name the new products will take -- Ben-Zvi says it could be "Quilt, Haven Life or a new one." MassMutual will underwrite all policies.
"Similarly to Haven Life, Quilt is mission driven, technology-focused, and has tons of experience in driving change in the insurance industry," Ben-Zvi says. "These shared traits and experiences will enable us to move quickly and innovate in a new area of life insurance."
