Today we’d like to introduce you to Catherine Dennig.
Hi Catherine, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
It started with my cat named Simba, who was my pride and joy. I call my loved ones (parents, sister, best friends) Simba, Yimba, Yimbi as my term of endearment because of him. I had grown up with pets, but Simba was the first I was financially responsible for. It hit me hard when he was diagnosed with lymphosarcoma, cancer, and treatment cost $12,000. As a college student, I had to decide whether to go into debt to save his life. He passed away a week later and I carried that with me as I finished college and started working at Facebook and living in the Bay Area.
As I was volunteering at the SFSPCA with my now co-founder Keji, we heard pet owner after pet owner lament over the costs of vet care — with one woman telling us she spent $8,000 for her dog’s ACL surgery. We heard families having to choose between saving their loved ones, giving them the medical care they needed, or going into crippling debt. It reminded me of my struggle with Simba.
My friend and no co-founder Keji and I started Fusure because we want to prevent pet parents from being in the same devastating situation by empowering them with the knowledge and resources, they need to make smart financial decisions.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Anyone who has been a founder knows it’s not easy. But most worthwhile things are hard. Building something from nothing (going from 0-1) requires momentum, and momentum is hard to manufacture. Getting hundreds of pet parents, veterinarians, insurers, and shelters (especially ones who didn’t know us prior) to commit to spending 30 minutes to an hour with us in the earliest of days took time and effort, but once we learned their main pain points, we’ve built our products with customer feedback and iteration every step of the way.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I am a co-founder of Fursure (www.getfursure.com), which is a pet health insurance marketplace with a mission to make sure all pets get access the care they need, without it becoming a financial decision.
Since its founding in 2020 Fursure has helped over 60,000 pet parents to get access to the care they need. There are over 185 million pets in the US and the pet industry is a $100B market slated to grow to $275B by the end of the decade. 97% of pets are not insured, which leaves pet owners vulnerable to hefty fees in the event of an emergency. It is Fursure’s mission to close the knowledge gap between consumer and pet insurance and help pet parents plan ahead in order to alleviate unexpected financial stress.
The success of Fursure’s marketplace led us to develop a first-of-its-kind Pet Rewards Debit Card that helps pet parents save for their pet’s healthcare. Fursure Card holders earn supercharged points on everyday spend that can be redeemed towards the cost of veterinary bills. It launched in April 2022 to a 16,000-person waitlist.
In addition, we recently announced our recent Seed + raise of $3 million led by MaC Ventures. I led the fundraise and sought out investors grounded in the seed stage, ones who have invested in legendary consumer, fintech, and health companies. All of Fursure’s new and existing partners have strong missions and founder expertise and a portfolio of success. This raise brings Fursure’s total to $6.6M in funding. The first Seed round co-led by Moxxie Ventures and Streamlined Ventures in 2021 closed at $3M. With this latest investment, we plan to propel the business forward with unique pet healthcare product developments, further establishing it as a financial one-stop shop for pet parents. We are conscious of the customer we are building for, what their needs are, and where there are gaps in the market that Fursure is uniquely positioned to fill. Joining MaC Ventures in this raise for pet fintech is participation from Sure Ventures, Scrum VC, Western Tech Investment (WTI), Slope Fund, Winklevoss Capital; and phenomenal existing funds including Streamlined Ventures and Upside Partnership; as well as world-class angels.
What’s next?
We are continuously rolling out new features for the Fursure Card, which launched earlier this year in April. For those who don’t know, the Fursure Card is the first rewards debit card for pet parents. We’ve partnered with Blue Ridge Bank and Visa to help pet parents with a risk-free way to save on vet care using their day-to-day spend. With the Fursure Card, pet parents earn supercharged points on their pet spend, which they can then redeem on any & all veterinary care.
Our new fundraise will also allow up the ability to add more products and continue our efforts so everyone can do right by their pets and get them the best care possible, within their budgetary means.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.getfursure.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getfursure/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/getfursure/
