Many Pets

Many Pets (also previously known as Bought By Many) is a cat and dog insurtech. The digital pet insurer has over 600,000 members, and offers free video calls with registered vets through its partnership with First Vet. Its Complete policy has £15k of lifetime vet fee cover, and it has pre-existing conditions policy options.

Many Pets, founded in 2012, began as a company which sought to harness the collective buying power of groups to negotiate insurance deals from insurers that would not otherwise be available to individuals. Customers signed up via the intuitive company website and select the coverage they desire. When a critical mass is reached they approached insurers to negotiate deals for their members, providing an average discount of 18%.

In 2015 the company surpassed 100,000 members and launched a SaaS platform in China with PingAn.

The following year the company announced a $9m Series A round, with investors including Octopus Ventures and Munich Re/HSB Ventures.

In 2017 the company announced it would be offering its own niche insurance lines backed by the balance sheet of Munich Re, and surpassed 300k members. The company plans to expand its offering to more niche lines which don’t appeal to larger insurers, whose systems capability doesn’t allow them to develop and launch products at speed.

In 2018 the insurtech completed its Series B round.

In 2019 Many Pets partnered with FirstVet to offer pet insurance customers access to free vet video consultations via the FirstVet app.

In April 2020 the company announced it had closed £78.4m in growth equity from an investment led by FTV Capital. The raise follows a 150% growth in the company's cat and dog policies over the previous year. The funding will be used to continue growth, drive increased market share in the UK and further product development.

In October 2020 the company announced it would be changing its branding to Many Pets in markets outside of the UK.

In March 2021, Many Pets announced it had launched its pet insurance in the US, under its international brand name ManyPets. Initially launched in Illinois, it is now being rolled out nationwide. The company also revealed that it had doubled its GWP over the part year to more than $200m.

In May 2021 Many Pets reached a $2bn valuation after raising a $350m Series D round. The startup now covers around 500k pets globally, and CEO Steven Mendel also revealed that Many Pets has doubled its GWP for three consecutive years, reaching more than $220m in the past year.

In December 2021 Many Pets acquired pet wellness subscription service VetBox to expand its offering. Vetbox provides boxes of preventative treatments (such as flea and worming solutions) to over 20k monthly subscribers.

In October 2022, pet insurtech Many Pets acquired the company from Munich Re Digital Partners US Holding Corporation. Digital Edge will enable the ManyPets group to underwrite its own policies in 45 states. Following the acquisition, ManyPets will operate a multi-carrier strategy in the US, continuing to work with its existing partner, Accredited Surety and Casualty Company, Inc., to enable it to cater the entire US market.

In March 2022, the company announced it would rebrand its UK arm Bought By Many to ManyPets, unifying it with its American branding.

During December 2022 the company partnered with European digital insurer Wakam as its new UK carrier.

Later in May 2023 the business was reported to have paused marketing in the United States as it sought to understand problems arising from its overseas expansion. The company cited customer acquisition costs were too high and average order value is lower than anticipated. Moreover, customer retention was said to be somewhat worse than was expected. This posed a very real problem for the company because the United States was seen as a key market for expansion.

In June 2023  Many Pets’ partnership with Great Lakes SE in Sweden  ended, and as a result, the provider is withdrawing from the Swedish pet insurance market. Catharina Gehrke, chief executive of Many Pets in Sweden, said the move is part of a “review of its investment opportunities”, and to “allow it to focus on the US and UK insurance markets”.

During August 2023 ManyPets has partnered with Vitesse to automate and streamline their claims process. Vitesse facilitates speedy payouts, ensuring no delays for customers in the UK and US. The integration of clever APIs and backend processes ensures efficiency even as ManyPets expands.