Life insurance is often seen as a space where not as much innovation has taken place as in other areas. Life insurance is in need of modernization, to better fit with people’s changing life circumstances and financial needs.
Traditional life insurance is a complex product, that usually takes weeks to get in place. To qualify for life insurance, many people have to go see a doctor; and even then, not everyone will be able to get a policy. Once a policy is in place, there is often no possibility to amend it, for example as a person’s family grows or their circumstances change – these policies can’t be easily updated.

This is where Bequest saw a big opportunity. Bequest is a life- and end-of-life estate management provider for the digital generation. They have reimagined life insurance, starting from scratch, supported by trusted names in insurance like Covéa and Berkshire Hathaway’s Gen Re. Bequest brings together a person’s life administration, family planning, wealth management and end-of-life planning, all under one roof.

Early next year, Bequest is planning to roll out their bespoke life insurance product. Designed with families in mind, it covers them for just what they need, no matter the size or shape of their family and no matter how much that changes over time. Bequest will be available to anyone in the UK.

How it works
What does the modernization of life insurance look like? It all starts with simplifying and dramatically speeding up the process to get life insurance. Bequest has removed the 6 week-process to get life insurance and has reduced it to only minutes. They have also updated the policy terms and removed discriminatory clauses; and they have removed an important barrier to many: the medical appointment. Bequest allows people to update their policy as their life develops, their family grows and circumstances change.

Crucial to Bequest’s new approach to life insurance is their data-driven AI underwriting engine. This allows Bequest to obtain much more information than the standard, lengthy questionnaire and helps to speed up the process.

The Bequest platform provides customers with value-added services, such as wills, memory boxes and pension visibility services for free, regardless of whether a customer buys insurance with Bequest or not. These services help Bequest to collect vital information required from the customer for their insurance products. This enables them to reduce the amount of questions needed to ask a Bequest customer in order for them to buy insurance. Not only is Bequest adding value for their users for free, early on in their insurance journey, they’re also dramatically smoothing out the purchase journey for their life insurance product.

From Life Insurance and Wills to a comprehensive Life and After-Life eco system
The first solution, available on the Bequest platform, is the Will Writing product. Bequest users can write a legally binding, secure will that is future-proofed for their family, no matter their circumstances, giving them peace of mind about their family’s future in case something would happen. 

Early next year, Bequest will launch their Life Insurance product, which can cover families for up to £500,000 lump sum payout, as well as income and mortgage protection in the future. One of Bequest’s core values is to always be there for their customers when they are most in need. This is why they’ve decided to remove any suicide-exemption clauses which have become standard in the industry. Bequest is also working with charities close to their customers’ hearts to give them the opportunity to leave legacy donations after their death.

Finally, Bequest users have the opportunity to bring their loved ones onto the Bequest platform and share with them specific aspects of their lives, such as a will with a partner or connecting their custodian to their life insurance policy. By bringing all of the life and after-life admin into one eco-system, and connecting the bits that matter, to the people that matter, Bequest is removing the stress out of dealing with any death wishes a loved one may have left. To distribute their estate exactly as they intended, to find funeral wishes easily, to distribute memory boxes as they were intended and to make a life insurance claim painless. Bequest is taking the stress out of dealing with the practical aspects of a loved one’s death, so their users can fully concentrate on dealing with their loss.

Who is Bequest?
Bequest was founded in December 2019 and is currently in build and early beta phase. They’ve just started their £2-2.3M seed raise and are at about 64% into raising this amount.
Bequest is the winner of the ITC+DIA World Tour – startup competition, being voted first among more than 100 startups, participating in more than 30 stops around the globe.

“Bequest was founded to bring family protection and future planning to a digital generation. Having all lost someone close to us, we understand firsthand how difficult it is, to deal with the loss of a loved one at the same time as managing the process after their death. We want to bring clarity and calmness to this moment in people’s lives, allowing them the space and time to process their grief, without adding to the stress.” James Buckley-Thorpe, Founder and CEO, Bequest

www.bequest.com

Check out their DIA Prime Time video here:
https://www.digitalinsuranceagenda.com/dia-tv/video/life-insurance-addressing-the-digital-needs-of-today/