Montreal-based start-up Breathe Life announces another $11.5 million CAD in funding today. The SaaS company, like telehealth start-up Dialogue, has seen increased demand for its services as the COVID-19 pandemic has raised interest in life insurance products.

John Stokes, Partner at Real Ventures, one of the co-leads of the Series A funding noted: “Until recently, the insurance industry has approached digital transformation as a multi-year effort. If the last six months have taught the industry anything, it’s that the time to go digital is now. Breathe Life has a proven track record helping carriers across North America quickly deliver high-quality digital experiences to consumers that drive growth while also generating valuable, data-driven insights back to the business.”

The insurance industry has been known to be notoriously slow to adopt change. But with a rapidly-shifting marketplace and changes in consumer buying habits, many carriers have been partnering with Fintech startups such as Breathe Life to drive innovation. “In our current global context there is an increased need to develop digital services in all sectors, and we’re convinced that this promising Montreal company will play an important role in bringing innovation to the insurance industry,” stated Guy LeBlanc, President and CEO of Investissement Québec.

Breathe Life helps insurance carriers to move their business online. According to Breathe Life, their digital distribution platform can help carriers quickly attract, service, and win new business cost-effectively across channels.

“Everything that has happened this momentous year has raised the stakes for carriers, forcing them to quickly and effectively modernize their operations to meet the pressing financial-security needs of billions of consumers worldwide,” said Ian Jeffrey, CEO of Breathe Life. To achieve the speed to market necessary to compete, legacy carriers are partnering with agile InsurTechs.

According to Jeffrey, Breathe Life will use the proceeds of this funding round to support growth, staffing up across their Engineering, Client Office, and Product Teams. They just recently brought on Dan Flahive, a senior executive with 30 years of experience in the North American carrier ecosystem, as Senior Director of Carrier Relations.

Ian Jeffrey believes that “Helping consumers engage online — and making it easy for advisors to help them there — is no longer a ‘nice to have,’ but an urgent requirement of the new normal.” The Breathe Life team, along with its new members, look forward to being part of that drive forward.

(Editorial Disclosure: the author of this article is a freelance writer that also does work with Breathe Life.)