Oyen, a digital pet healthcare insurance provider based in Malaysia, has announced it raised US$420K in a seed round today. The round is backed by Hustle Fund and angel investors made up of former and current executives from Airbnb, Facebook, and Rocket Internet.
These funds will go towards enhancing Oyen’s proprietary digital insurance platform and reinforcing its market position within the industry in Malaysia. To achieve this, the company shared that it will expand its recruitment in various roles in technology (like software engineering), and non-technology (like growth marketing).
The platform was launched in late April 2021 in partnership with MSIG Insurance (Malaysia) Bhd, and it offers services that come from a network of veterinary clinics.
It claims that it can provide the country’s highest veterinary medical coverage with up to RM8K of the amount claimable in vet medical fees, up to RM1k in pet burial costs, and up to RM50K in third-party liability claims.
More people wanting pets
Oyen’s launch came about in a timely manner, considering that research has found an increase in pet ownership in the region, a trend that escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic as people sought pet companionship.
With pets come the responsibilities of caring for them, which can be daunting in the face of emergencies that are expensive to handle. It’s in this space that Oyen wants to make an impact, not just in the aftermath of emergencies, but also in preventative care and general pet wellness.
Within the next 3 years, Oyen intends to have 100K pets insured in Southeast Asia, half of which is expected to come from its first market, Malaysia.
In Asia-Pacific, the pet care market’s CAGR is estimated to reach US$132 billion by 2027. Southeast Asia’s insurance ecosystem is also expected to rebound soon, with the life insurance sector projected to see a 30% CAGR to reach over US$15 billion by 2025, and a CAGR of over 14% to reach nearly US$20 billion by 2024 for the general insurance market.
Dictionary Time: Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is the mean annual growth rate of an investment over a specified period of time longer than one year.
Investopedia
Amidst these projections and an observation of a growing consumer shift towards digitised insurance offerings, Oyen wants to work closely with industry players and regulators in the region to expand its services to more markets.
At the same time, it sees potential in moving into other consumer insurance segments for people such as home, life, and medical insurance, although those would appear to be more saturated markets.
Featured Image Credit: Kevin Hoong (founder & CEO) and Michelle Chin of Oyen