«OneDegree» – founded in 2016 by a former J.P. Morgan banker – has been awarded a license for online-only insurance with a focus on medical coverage for pets.
OneDegree will initially partner with major veterinary clinics to focus on pets as its flagship product before expanding its coverage to include humans and cyber risk products. The firm also pledges faster policy sales and claims process – two days compared to the traditional two-week duration.
The online pet insurer is backed by investors including BitRock Capital, Cyberport Macro Fund and Cathay Venture with reinsurer partners like Munich Re and Scor Re.
OneDegree becomes the third online-only insurer since the local insurance regulator in Hong Kong began approving such licenses in late 2017. The remaining two digital insurers include Bowtie Life, backed by Sun Life, and Avo Insurance, backed by Asia Financial Group and Hillhouse Capital.
Hong Kong Opportunity
One 2016 survey by the Veterinary Surgeons Board said that pet ownership in Hong Kong rose to 510,600 or one in every five households. Combined with the fact that just 3 percent of dogs and cats have insurance coverage in the city compared to high double-digit penetration in Europe, according to data from Munich Re, the growth potential could be significant.
«The number of dogs and cats in Hong Kong is similar to the number of young children in school,» said Alvin Kwock Yin-lun, OneDegree co-founder and former APAC head of emerging technology at J.P. Morgan, in an «SCMP» report.
«Many people treat their pets as part of the family, and they want to have insurance cover for them.»
