Backing Lassie, the preventative pet insurance
11.10.2021
We led a €2 million Seed round into Lassie, with participation from Passion Capital and angels Josefin Landgård and Stefan Lindeberg.
Here’s how Tatiana Shalalvand and the Inventure Team looked at the company:
The Problem
Over the years we’ve taken a look at many companies innovating in the insurance sector (most notably with Insurello and Omocom) and seen over and over again how the incumbents in the space are too slow to adapt to new trends and customer demands.
One easy example is pet insurance. After meeting Lassie, it’s clear that users deserve so much more than a quarterly payment to an insurance company and a phone number.
A few trends have come together to make the timing right for a new entrant. At a generational level, we’ve gotten closer to our pets– and with it animal healthcare costs have risen. Today we and our insurance companies open our wallets for cancer treatments, prescription medications, and whatever it takes to make our furry family members healthy again. We’re closer with our pets, as we should be with our pet insurance.
The pandemic has also changed the pet insurance market in new unexpected ways. The long quarantines have led to the COVID pet boom, where a record number of people have brought pets into their lives for the first time. We know pets bring out the best in people, but there has been a learning curve with all these new pet owners. Some clinics see up to 40% of their dog and cat visits related to preventable stomach issues! We have to fix this.
Meet Lassie
Lassie is on a mission to reduce preventable injuries by offering the first pet insurance that focuses on helping the pet parent keep their animal healthy. The service provides digital preventive courses that also reward pet owners with lower insurance premiums, as they collect points for keeping a healthy pet lifestyle.
Testing out the product, you quickly realize this connects you with your pet, creates conversations in the dog park, and protects you from unwanted expenses. It’s really a next-generation product that we’re proud to back.
Under the hood it gets even better. The team’s deep operational background in insurance means that Lassie isn’t figuring out how to build an insurance company as they go. They know what a modern insurance company looks like, and they’ve built one. With a solid foundation they will continue to build credibility and trust as they grow.
Why we’re betting on it
We believe that there’s been a real inflection point in how owners view their pets’ healthcare, and Lassie comes at the perfect time to push the world towards healthier pets and lower insurance costs.
We also felt strongly that this is the team that will fix pet insurance in Europe. Cofounder and CEO Hedda Båverud Olsson’s (ex-McKinsey and EQT) is an incredibly strong CEO, and grew up with a veterinarian mother and learned the secrets to keeping animals healthy and happy from a young age. Johan Jönsson is a superstar, bringing deep tech experience from Spotify and King. And capping off the folding team is Sophie Wilkinson, the longtime Head of Animal Insurance at If P&C.
Today Lassie is available in Sweden, but soon it will be creating conversations in dog parks across Europe and the world. Find out more at Lassie.co
Tatiana Shalalvand