# Jamie Hale

> Jamie Hale is the CEO and Co-Founder of Ladder, the Palo Alto-based digital life insurance company that has issued over $42 billion in coverage and raised $194 million in venture funding. Motivated by losing his father at age 11 and experiencing firsthand the stabilizing power of a life insurance payout, Hale set out to strip the life insurance industry down to its essential truth: a pure, flexible term product that takes minutes to buy online, not weeks of paperwork. Ladder reached a $900 million valuation in its 2021 Series D and has tripled revenue year-over-year, making Hale one of the most prominent voices in insurtech.

- **Role:** CEO & Co-Founder at Ladder
- **Organizations:** Ladder, Oak Hill Venture Partners, Aldenwood Capital, Oak Hill Investment Management, NextCard, Lazard Freres & Co.
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor's degree, Bowdoin College, MBA, Harvard Business School
- **Known for:** Co-founded and scaled Ladder to a $900 million valuation (Series D, 2021), Raised $194 million in total venture funding from investors including RRE Ventures, NYCA Partners, Northwestern Mutual, Thomvest Ventures, and OMERS Growth Equity, Issued over $42 billion in life insurance coverage through Ladder

## Career timeline

- **1994-1996** — Analyst, Mergers & Acquisitions at Lazard Freres & Co.
- **1999-2000** — New Product Development Manager at NextCard, the first internet-enabled Visa card
- **2000-2003** — Principal at Oak Hill Venture Partners
- **2003-2015** — Partner at Aldenwood Capital and Oak Hill Investment Management (managing $12B+ in assets)
- **2015** — Co-founded Ladder with wife Laura Hale, Jeff Merkel, and Jack Dubie
- **2020** — Led Ladder's Series C funding of $37.5 million; launched in New York making Ladder available nationwide
- **2021** — Led Ladder's Series D funding of $100M at a $900M valuation - first digital life insurance company at that scale
- **2022** — Ladder achieved triple year-over-year revenue growth
- **2024** — Named to Top 50 Financial Technology CEOs by The Financial Technology Report

## Achievements

- Co-founded and scaled Ladder to a $900 million valuation (Series D, 2021)
- Raised $194 million in total venture funding from investors including RRE Ventures, NYCA Partners, Northwestern Mutual, Thomvest Ventures, and OMERS Growth Equity
- Issued over $42 billion in life insurance coverage through Ladder
- Built real-time underwriting engine that delivers decisions in under 15 seconds with an 8-minute application process
- Tripled year-over-year revenue growth in 2022
- Named to The Financial Technology Report Top 50 Financial Technology CEOs of 2024
- First digital life insurance company to reach $900M valuation
- Expanded Ladder to all 50 US states
- Assembled a leadership team pulling talent from Google, Dropbox, and top financial services firms

## Latest updates

- **2024-01** — Named to The Financial Technology Report's Top 50 Financial Technology CEOs of 2024
- **2022-01** — Ladder achieved triple year-over-year growth; employee headcount more than doubled since the pandemic started
- **2021-10** — Led Ladder's $100M Series D at a $900M valuation, led by Thomvest Ventures and OMERS Growth Equity

## Links

- Website: https://ladderlife.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/halejamie/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/halejamie
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/ladderlife/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jamie-hale
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-26