EQT Growth’s investment in BoughtByMany:
Insurance powered by tech — empowering pet parents to seek the care their pets need, whenever they need it
We have a strong thesis that technology will continue to enable transformation across the insurance industry’s value chain: from acquisition and distribution, to underwriting and pricing, through to claims. Technology businesses are well positioned to absorb and analyse large amounts of data, to capture and connect new kinds of data, as well as to improve the user journey through digital interfaces from acquisition to claims. All the above components equate to better pricing and better user experience, a far cry from traditional insurance products that often suffer from negative NPS scores.
Enter BoughtByMany, which has customers (both pets and their parents!) at its core. The company uses technology to provide better insurance, including more features and better coverage levels, with simple language, and a digital-led customer experience. Bought By Many’s customer-centric focus and innovation has led to rapid Gross Written Premium growth, doubling for three consecutive years, to more than USD 220 million in the past twelve months and to numerous awards, such as, Best Pet Insurer (Insurance Awards 2020), Platinum Trusted Service Award (Feefo 2020) and Most Trusted Pet Insurance Provider (Moneywise Customer Service Awards 2019).
Pet insurance is a compelling category as it is a large but underpenetrated market with growth supported by secular tailwinds. Pet ownership continues to grow, both in the number of pets (which was further accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic), but especially in how we treat and feel about our pets. Increasingly pet owners see their pets as core family members. For example, over a third of people now sleep in bed with their pets rather than having them sleeping outside, up from just 15% only two years ago; four-fifths of pet owners would spend any amount necessary to keep their pets healthy.
At the same time, scientific advances are enabling better pet care, with more sophisticated treatments for our favourite furry friends. In contrast to this, in many large pet markets- like the UK, Germany or the US — pet insurance penetration remains very low (at approximately 25%, 5% and 2%, respectively) as awareness and trust for pet insurance can be misunderstood. This creates an exciting opportunity for purpose-driven, tech-led companies to deliver a product that covers our pets whenever they need it.
Led by co-founders Steven Mendel and Guy Farley, BoughByMany has rapidly grown in the UK since launching their pet product in 2017, and has since expanded into Sweden (2019) and the USA (2021), now covering nearly half a million pets globally.
EQT Growth is thrilled to announce that we have led the Company’s $350m Series D round to support BoughtByMany in its mission to make the world a better place for pets. The Company will continue to double-down on product, as well as geographic expansion.
If you love pets too, BoughtByMany is hiring!
