# Samad Wahedi

> Samad Wahedi is the Founder and CEO of Glow, a San Francisco-based insurtech company reimagining workers' compensation and small business insurance. After a 25-year career building and selling technology companies - from InsWeb's IPO to selling DirectQuality in 2007 - Wahedi launched Glow in 2018 when he saw family members trapped by outdated, overpriced insurance solutions. Glow has since raised $41.5M in total funding, grown to 280 employees, and built a platform that syncs directly with payroll to deliver concierge-level insurance coverage at 20%+ savings for small businesses across the U.S.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Glow
- **Organizations:** Glow, Snapflow, DirectQuality, Velosel, InsWeb, Live365, Corillian
- **Nationality:** American
- **Known for:** Founded Glow in 2018, growing it to 280 employees and $41.5M in total funding, Led Glow's $22.5M Series A financing round in November 2022, Previously helped build InsWeb, which went public as one of the first online auto-insurance marketplaces

## Career timeline

- **1996-1998** — Software Engineer at Corillian, contributing to early internet-based financial services
- **1998-2000** — Director of Software & QA at Live365, an early online radio platform
- **2000-2001** — VP of Software Services & QA at InsWeb, an online auto-insurance marketplace that went public
- **2001-2004** — VP of Software Services at Velosel; company raised $40M+ in VC before being sold to TIBCO
- **2004-2008** — Founded and served as CEO of DirectQuality, a software outsourcing company; sold in 2007
- **2008-2014** — Founded and served as CEO of Snapflow, a cloud-based platform for enterprise mobile applications
- **2018** — Founded Glow in San Francisco to reimagine small business insurance
- **2022-11** — Glow raises $22.5M Series A led by Cota Capital, with AV8 Ventures, Maiden Re, Markd, and others

## Achievements

- Founded Glow in 2018, growing it to 280 employees and $41.5M in total funding
- Led Glow's $22.5M Series A financing round in November 2022
- Previously helped build InsWeb, which went public as one of the first online auto-insurance marketplaces
- Sold DirectQuality (founded 2004) by 2007, demonstrating early exit success
- Worked at Velosel, which raised $40M+ in VC and was sold to TIBCO
- Built Glow into a platform that saves small businesses 20%+ on workers' compensation insurance
- Expanded Glow's payroll-integrated insurance model across multiple U.S. states

## Latest updates

- **2022-11** — Glow raised $22.5 million in Series A funding led by Cota Capital, with participation from AV8 Ventures, Markd, Startup Venture Capital, Maiden Re, and others.
- **2022-11** — Glow announced plans to expand into additional U.S. states and new industry verticals.
- **2018-01** — Samad Wahedi founded Glow in San Francisco, initially focusing on workers' compensation insurance for California small businesses.

## Links

- Website: https://glow.co
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wahedi/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/samad-wahedi
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-23