Inventure

Nov 28, 2023

Read this article in: Stockholm-based Lassie, a preventive pet insurance ecosystem, announced on Tuesday that it has raised €23M in a Series B round of funding led by Balderton Capital. Previous investors Felix Capital, Inventure, Passion Capital, and Philian (H&M Chair Karl-John Persson) also participated in the round, bringing the total raised by Lassie to €36.5M. Fund utilisation The Swedish firm will use the funds to develop its ecosystem offering, including the in-app sale of pet health products, grow its tech and product teams, continue momentum 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 serve its customers and support more healthy pets. Hedda Båverud Olsson, co-founder, and CEO, says, “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 they have long, happy, and, importantly, healthy lives.” She adds, “We set out to do this with Lassie by empowering owners to have all the resources at their fingertips to provide their pets with the care they deserve and 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.” Lassie: Building the future of preventive pet insurance Lassie co-founder and CEO Hedda Båverud Olsson was inspired to establish the company after growing up with a veterinarian parent who focused on providing preventive care to their pets to help them avoid sickness. The team behind Lassie comprises insurance expert Sophie Wilkinson, a former head of pet insurance at a Nordic insurance company, and technology lead Johan Jönsson, a full-stack developer with experience at Spotify and King. Founded in 2021, Lassie provides bespoke insurance products and coaching for cat and dog owners to learn how to keep happy, healthy, and fitter pets. Its app features online courses, including videos and articles advising owners on what foods to avoid, how to reduce stress amongst pets, the best ways to train a new puppy or kitten, and accessible exercises. 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. The startup has already made successful inroads in Sweden and Germany, which launched in January this year and is growing 200 per cent faster than Sweden. Lassie now has over 60,000 customers on its books, including over 400 dog breeds and over 200 cat breeds. The investor Balderton Capital is a multistage venture firm with over two decades of experience supporting Europe’s best founders from Seed to IPO. The VC has both early and growth funds and invests across the technology sector, with a proven track record backing fintech, B2B SaaS, digital health, mobility, gaming, and marketplace companies. The company’s previous investments include Darktrace, Depop, Flywire, Kobalt, MySQL, Nutmeg, Peakon, Recorded Future, Talend, and THG. Balderton’s current portfolio includes Aircall, Beauty Pie, Contentful, Dream Games, GoCardless, JOKR, Lendable, Matillon, Merama, Revolut, Tibber, Vestiaire Collective, Voi, and Wayve. Rob Moffat, Partner at Balderton, says, “We’ve long been passionate about the potential for technological disruption in insurance. However, it is a tough sector to break into and scale up, with underwriting, marketing costs, and claims operations challenges. As a result, we have been highly selective in our investing, and Lassie has been our first new insurance investment in the last five years. Lassie’s deep expertise, focus, efficiency, and leadership in the space are unparalleled, and we’re delighted to support the team on this next phase of growth.” Magda Lukaszewicz, Principal at Balderton, says, “I’ve been keeping an eye on Lassie since their founding. The team’s execution is remarkable, and they’ve hit metrics never seen 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.”