Podcast #42 - Trupanion deep dive

On this week’s pod, we take a look at another hypergrowth investment opportunity, the US pet insurance company, Trupanion.

Trupanion is North America’s largest publicly traded provider of pet insurance. It has focused exclusively on pets during its two-decade operating history, and currently insures over 940,000 cats and dogs in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Puerto Rico (an increase of 37% YoY).

• Pet ownership has grown significantly during the pandemic, many households have bought or adopted a pet to help them get through the social isolation of lockdown. In the US 23 million households acquired a pet between March 2020 and May 2021, and today 67% of American households own at least one kind of pet
• The North American pet insurance market was worth $1.9B in 2020 and is expected to grow to $3.8B by 2027. However, today less than 2% of North America’s 200 million dogs and cats have pet insurance, creating a large growth opportunity
• Trupanion were recently rated as the #2 US pet insurer, just behind Healthy Paws. They have a 4.4 / 5 score on trustpilot, and their customers are strong advocates for the company - an interesting contrast to their insuretech competitor, Lemonade, who score a woeful 2.6! However Trupanion are one of the more expensive pet insurance offerings, and a price-sensitive consumer may find that other insurers offer better value
• In Q1 2021, Trupanion’s monthly average revenue per pet was $62.97. Costs per pet currently exceed revenue by around $1, primarily driven by high subscription acquisition costs. The ‘lifetime value per pet’ insured by Trupanion is $634, however over $270 is spent acquiring a pet, so a customer needs to be retained for three years before Trupanion realises a return on the high acquisition cost!
• 2021 Q1 results showed revenue of $155M, an increase of 39% YoY. Average monthly retention was 98.73% compared to 98.59% in the prior-year period, and the average pet's life with Trupanion increased to 79 months, up from 71 months in the prior 12-month period. The company recognise that they still have opportunities to improve the retention of pets that drop out after one year
• The company’s financial position is strong with cash and assets of over $500M. The net loss for Q1 2021 was $12.4M, compared to a net loss of $1.1M in the same period last year. This was primarily driven by increased stock-based compensation expenses and a one-time performance grant to all employees that totalled $4.3M

The following companies are mentioned in this episode: TRUP, LMND

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