Eleos Life, the UK-based insurtech, has rolled out a new digital-first term life insurance product designed to expand access to affordable cover while rethinking what protection means for modern families.
The launch targets the UK’s persistent life insurance gap. According to the FCA, just 28% of adults hold a life policy, leaving most households exposed to financial shocks if a breadwinner is lost.
Eleos Life’s strategy is to bring protection into the everyday apps and platforms people already use—financial services, rental apps, and gig-economy platforms—rather than relying on traditional mortgage-linked or employer-driven distribution.
The new cover can be arranged in minutes through a fully digital process. Customers select terms from five to twenty years, with payouts ranging from £5,000 to £250,000.
Premiums start at £5 per month, with claims paid as a lump sum in cases of death or terminal illness. The onboarding requires as few as five questions, no phone interviews, no medical exams, and no paperwork.
To stand out, Eleos Life bundles wellness perks at no extra charge. Existing benefits include GP access, mental health counselling, and physiotherapy.
Starting this month, new features include LiveSmart, a digital health assessment platform offering tailored wellbeing plans, and The Body Coach app from Joe Wicks, providing workouts and meal planning.
CEO Kiruba Shankar Eswaran said the goal is not just financial protection but day-one engagement: “Insurance adoption stays low because awareness is limited, renters often don’t see the value, and most policies don’t engage people since no one thinks they’ll die young.
We launched Eleos Term Life to close these gaps: simple, transparent, and affordable protection, made relevant with health and lifestyle benefits you can use from day one, not just when the unexpected happens.
Kiruba Shankar Eswaran, Eleos Life CEO
“By working through embedded and white-labelled partners, we’re making life insurance more accessible and meaningful for today’s families,” said Kiruba Shankar Eswaran.
By embedding cover into partner ecosystems and adding lifestyle-driven benefits, Eleos Life is betting it can redefine life insurance for a digital-first, often underinsured generation.
Eleos Life is one of the newer entrants in the European digital protection space, and its funding history illustrates how investors are betting on technology to close the persistent life insurance gap.
The company has pursued a staged approach to financing, moving from pre-seed experiments through early seed expansions, each time with support from venture groups that specialize in insurance, fintech, and embedded finance models.
The firm’s initial pre-seed raise came in 2023, when Eleos secured about $750,000. That round was backed by a set of early-stage investors including Fuel Ventures, Indico Capital, APX, and Magic Fund.
The capital provided runway for building out the platform’s first digital-only life product, a test of whether a mobile-first distribution model could cut through the traditional barriers that had long limited life insurance uptake in the UK.
At that point, Eleos was still proving its case: could a stripped-down, embedded approach actually connect with renters, gig-economy workers, and younger households often ignored by traditional life providers?
Later in 2023, the company announced a larger £3.25 mn seed round, led by Fuel Ventures and Indico Capital Partners.
This round gave Eleos the resources to expand its team, invest in proprietary underwriting algorithms, and integrate wellness services into its cover. The addition of perks such as GP consultations, mental health counselling, and physiotherapy at no extra cost was a key differentiator and required investment in partnerships and tech integrations.
For investors, the attraction was clear: life insurance adoption in the UK remains extremely low, with only around 28% of adults holding policies, according to the FCA. That gap represents both a social problem and a market opportunity.
By mid-2024, Eleos had extended its seed financing further, announcing a $4 mn round also led by Fuel Ventures and Indico. That injection of capital broadened the company’s ambitions.
Rather than just focusing on the UK, Eleos began exploring opportunities in the US and other markets, while continuing to refine its embedded distribution strategy.
The funds also supported underwriting capacity, allowing the firm to expand its product range beyond the initial term life policies.
What sets Eleos apart, and why investors continue to back it, is its attempt to redefine the perception of life insurance.
Traditional models depend on mortgage brokers, employers, or lengthy medical assessments. Eleos instead integrates with apps and digital platforms where users already spend their time, from financial services and rental apps to gig-economy portals.
By removing friction, reducing onboarding to a handful of questions, and offering cover starting from £5 per month, the company aligns insurance with consumer behavior rather than forcing consumers into legacy channels.
Total funding to date sits at just under $10 mn when pre-seed, seed, and extended seed rounds are combined.
While still early-stage compared with more mature European insurtechs, Eleos is positioned at the intersection of two strong trends: embedded insurance and wellness-linked protection.
Backers like Fuel Ventures and Indico see in it a scalable model that could extend far beyond the UK, while consumers see simpler, cheaper, more relevant cover that engages them daily rather than sitting dormant until crisis strikes.
