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Lassie, the pet insurance coverage startup, secured €23 million in Series B funding led by Balderton Capital, marking a complete funding of €36.5 million. The earlier traders Felix Capital, Inventure, Passion Capital and Philian (H&M Chair Karl-John Persson) additionally participated within the spherical. Founded in 2021 in Sweden, Lassie distinguishes itself by not simply offering insurance coverage protection but additionally by specializing in preventive pet care, providing tailor-made app-based programs and recommendation to pet house owners. These sources intention to reinforce the well being and well-being of pets, rewarding house owners with decrease premiums and factors for his or her completion. With a quickly rising buyer base of over 60,000 throughout Europe, together with profitable forays into Germany, Lassie plans to increase additional into different European nations, leveraging technological improvements like generative AI to automate claims and bolster personalization for its customers.
Lassie co-founder and CEO Hedda Båverud Olsson was impressed to discovered the corporate after rising up with a veterinarian mother or father who targeted on offering preventive care to their beloved household pets to assist them keep away from illness. Together with insurance coverage knowledgeable, Sophie Wilkinson (a former head of pet insurance coverage at a Nordic insurance coverage firm), and expertise lead, Johan Jönsson (a full-stack developer with expertise at Spotify and King), the group launched Lassie in 2021 in its home nation of Sweden, uniquely poised to tackle the multi-billion greenback pet insurance coverage market.
The startup has already made profitable inroads in Sweden in addition to Germany the place it launched in January this 12 months and is already rising 200% sooner than Sweden. Lassie now has greater than 60,000 prospects on its books, together with over 400 canine breeds and over 200 cat breeds.
Pet insurance coverage has seen little innovation, with house owners paying month-to-month premiums to keep away from a big vet invoice if a pet turns into sick or wants an operation. Yet the bureaucratic course of behind claims and compensation leaves prospects annoyed and dealing with rising premiums year-on-year with little to indicate for it. While human life and medical insurance corporations have taken benefit of the arrival of massive information and analytics to shift focus to preventive medical insurance, nobody has tried this within the pet insurance coverage house, till now.
Lassie gives bespoke insurance coverage merchandise coupled with teaching for cat and canine house owners to discover ways to maintain joyful, wholesome and fitter pets. Its app options on-line programs, together with movies and articles advising house owners on every part from what meals to keep away from, learn how to scale back stress amongst pets, the very best methods to coach a brand new puppy or kitten and accessible workout routines. Owners who full the programs obtain rewards each insurance coverage 12 months, from decrease premiums (between €25 to €50 cheaper a 12 months) to factors they’ll spend in Lassie’s in-app retailer. For any queries, house owners can join with Lassie’s assist group instantly within the app, which additionally makes it simpler to file and settle claims.
Lassie has launched as pet possession is booming in Europe. Nearly half (46%) of all European households personal a pet, following an explosion in canine and cat possession through the Covid-19 pandemic. Attitudes to pets are altering too – a survey by pet charity Blue Cross discovered that 95% of respondents view their pets as family members, while European nations are introducing legal guidelines that take into account the welfare and rights of pets throughout divorce and separation. As properly, house owners are spending a collective €23.5BN yearly on associated providers and merchandise from specialist pet meals, to equipment and insurance coverage to make sure their finest mates reside so long as attainable, with adoption rising throughout Europe together with Sweden (68%), UK (30%) and Germany (20%).
Over the following 12 months, Lassie is seeking to increase to a different European nation in addition to develop its product, together with furthering the event of generative AI to automate claims and strengthen its personalisation engine, to higher serve its prospects and assist extra wholesome pets.
Hedda Båverud Olsson, co-founder and CEO, mentioned: “Our four-legged family members are some of the most valuable parts of our lives – they provide love, companionship and happiness. In return, we want to ensure that they have long, happy, and most importantly, healthy lives. This is what we set out to do with Lassie by empowering owners to have all the resources at their fingertips to provide their pets with the care they deserve as well as bespoke insurance should the worst happen. We’re proud of everything we’ve achieved so far but we know there is still much more work to be done and we’re delighted to have the support of Balderton, to help us as we grow further.”
Rob Moffat, Partner at Balderton, mentioned: “We’ve long been passionate about the potential for technological disruption in insurance. However, it is a really hard sector to break into and scale up in, with challenges around underwriting, marketing costs and claims operations. As a result, we have been highly selective in our investing and Lassie is our first new insurance investment in the last five years. Hedda and the Lassie team have made it look easy. Lassie’s deep expertise, focus, efficiency and leadership in the space are unparalleled and we’re delighted to be supporting the team on this next phase of growth.”
Magda Lukaszewicz, Principal at Balderton, mentioned: “I’ve been keeping an eye on Lassie ever since their founding. The team’s execution is remarkable and they’ve hit metrics we have not seen before in pet insurance. They have a close, digital-first, relationship with the consumer-driven by their preventive health offering, giving Lassie a real platform to go beyond insurance.”
Click to learn extra funding information.
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