The pet insurance market has seen little innovation despite the focus on the pet industry as a whole. While we have seen companies that prioritise opening new clinics for pets and VC firms that back pet tech companies, the insurance sector is nowhere close to the human life and health insurance sector.
Revolutionising this sector is Lassie, a Swedish-founded next-generation pet insurance startup focusing on empowering pet owners to have healthier, happier, and fitter pets.
In a recent development, Lassie raised €23 million in Series B funding led by Balderton Capital known for its recent investments in Unaric, Grasp, and Anytype. Previous investors Felix Capital, Inventure, Passion Capital, and Philian (H&M Chair Karl-John Persson) also participated in the round. With this, the total funding raised by the company accounts for €36.5 million.
The funding will be used to develop Lassie’s ecosystem offering, including the in-app sale of health products for pets, grow its tech and product teams, continue growth in Germany and Sweden, and plan the next international launch.
Over the next 12 months, Lassie is looking to expand to another European country as well as develop its product, including furthering the development of generative AI to automate claims and strengthen its personalisation engine, to better serve its customers and support more healthy pets.
How was Lassie born?
Lassie co-founder Hedda Båverud Olsson was inspired by the idea after growing up with a veterinarian parent who focused on providing preventive care to their beloved family pets to help them avoid sickness. Together with insurance expert, Sophie Wilkinson and technology lead, Johan Jönsson, she founded Lassie in 2021 in Sweden to take on the pet insurance market.
Lassie provides bespoke insurance products coupled with coaching for cat and dog owners. Its app features online courses, including videos and articles advising owners on everything from what foods to avoid, how to reduce stress amongst pets, the best ways to train a new puppy or kitten, and accessible exercises.
As per the company, owners who complete the courses receive rewards every insurance year, from lower premiums (between €25 to €50 cheaper a year) to points they can spend in Lassie’s in-app store.
Hedda Båverud Olsson, co-founder and CEO, said: “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, said: “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, said: “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.”
