Napo, a new breed of digital pet insurer, is coming on leaps and bounds with a £12million investment raise which will see customer services expanded and the potential for further applications of its technology. Dogs, cats and the UK are the company’s current focus as it prepares to close its second funding round led by Mercia Ventures that will take backing so far to £30million. Co-founded by first-time owners chief executive Jean-Philippe Doumeng and chief product officer Ludovic Lacay just over three years ago, they saw an opportunity after seeing a gap in the market as customers.
“Napo offers premium proactive, comprehensive care that does more than cover vets’ bills,” they explain. “It is part of a broader ecosystem that supports prevention, behaviour education and overall pet wellbeing with services not usually included in a policy for example dental care. We describe our approach as ‘a fight against basic’, a counter to cheap, inadequate insurance that’s a race to the bottom.” Tailored to each customer, policies range from £200 a year to £1,000 plus. If a pet dies during the cover time, the owner is reimbursed pro rata. Covid, which coincided with the company’s launch, turbocharged UK pet ownership increasing it by 38% with 10.9 million more homes having welcomed a new pet since 2020. Last year dog and cat owners each spent over £1,450.
“There has been a huge shift in how people view pets as family members, more are willing to spend on quality products and 70% are under 44 years old,” says chief executive Doumeng. “Seamless, tech enabled solutions are what they want and that aligns perfectly with our customer-first approach. From getting a quote to submitting and tracking claims, it’s all within minutes. For complex cases there’s compassionate, human support. Unlike most competitors we control the entire value chain, from pricing to design, claims, ensuring efficiency and rapid adaptability. We were early adopters of AI and automation, leveraging them ahead of the buzz and continue to invest. They’re at the core of our operations and our models have predictive possibilities such as for spotting diseases. They also have transferrable potential, for example claims handling in other insurance sectors.”
With a team of 60 and more jobs planned, Napo is forecasting £100million turnover by 2027. “This latest investment will take us to profitability,” adds Doumeng. The company, which has received industry recognition for driving change, has settled 50,000 claims in the past three years with some 250 pet owners receiving £10,000 plus. Now scaling towards cover for 100,000 pets, its aim is to bring all breeds into the fold and create communities for customers with added value features such as events and games. Expansion to Europe and the US are all part of the longer-term plan and partnerships with insurers are underway while ones with vets are also welcome.
“We enable customers to say ‘yes’ to life-saving treatments for loved ones,” says Doumeng whose advice for would-be pet parents who want the best start possible is to never forget the importance of gene pool variety for instilling strength and that “mongrels are the best”. Napo.pet
