# Melbourne O'Banion

> Melbourne O'Banion is the co-founder and CEO of Bestow, a Dallas-based digital life insurance platform that shrunk a four-to-six-week underwriting process into a five-minute checkout. After stints founding Presidio Title and co-founding luxury skincare brand Beauty Bioscience with his wife, he teamed up with Jonathan Abelmann in 2017 to build the first fully digital life insurance carrier, later pivoting into SaaS infrastructure for incumbent carriers. Bestow closed a $120M Series D led by Goldman Sachs and Smith Point Capital in May 2025.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Bestow
- **Organizations:** Bestow, Presidio Title (co-founder, prior), Beauty Bioscience (co-founder, prior), BYU Marriott School - National Advisory Council, SMU Tate Lecture Series (board member)
- **From:** San Antonio, Texas, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.A., Finance and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Brigham Young University
- **Known for:** Built and scaled the first fully digital life insurance carrier, Raised approximately $377.5M in total funding for Bestow across multiple rounds, Closed $120M Series D led by Goldman Sachs Growth and Smith Point Capital in May 2025

## Career timeline

- **pre-2007** — Co-founded Presidio Title, a Texas title insurance agency
- **2007** — Returned to Texas
- **2011** — Co-founded Beauty Bioscience luxury skincare with his wife Jamie
- **2016** — Co-founded Bestow with Jonathan Abelmann in Dallas
- **2020** — Bestow becomes recognized as the first fully digital life insurance carrier
- **2021** — Named finalist for EY Entrepreneur of the Year with co-founder Abelmann
- **2023-2024** — Bestow shifts primary focus from D2C to SaaS infrastructure for carriers
- **2025-05** — Bestow raises $120M Series D led by Goldman Sachs and Smith Point Capital

## Achievements

- Built and scaled the first fully digital life insurance carrier
- Raised approximately $377.5M in total funding for Bestow across multiple rounds
- Closed $120M Series D led by Goldman Sachs Growth and Smith Point Capital in May 2025
- EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist (2021)
- Serves on BYU Marriott School of Business National Advisory Council
- Named to the Dallas Innovates '26 North Texas Innovators' (2019)

## Latest updates

- **2025-05** — Announced $120M Series D led by Goldman Sachs Growth and Smith Point Capital, bringing total capital raised to ~$377.5M.
- **2025-03** — Appeared on The Future of Insurance Podcast (S6E03) discussing modernization strategy for incumbent carriers.
- **2025-12** — Featured on The Financial Technology Report podcast on Bestow's carrier SaaS platform.

## Links

- Website: https://bestow.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mobanion/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/bestowlife
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melbourneobanion/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bestowinc/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/melbourne-o-banion
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-09