Months after opening its first in-store veterinary clinic, Petco is expanding further into pet health care through the purchase of PetInsuranceQuotes.com.
The website compares insurance plans for cats and dogs, generates quotes and sends pet owners to providers. The Columbus, Ohio, company states that it has generated more than 1 million quotes since its 2011 founding.
Participating insurers such as Embrace, Healthy Paws, Nationwide, Petplan, Pets Best and Trupanion pay for the leads.
The acquisition, announced Jan. 30, came nearly four months after Thrive Affordable Vet Care, a small Texas-based chain, opened a clinic inside a Petco store in suburban Houston. Today, the partnership has growth to about 10 Thrive clinics operating or soon to open at Petco stores in Texas, Colorado and California.
Petco, which has 1,500 stores across the United States, Mexico and Puerto Rico, sees the insurance venture as a way to help pet owners pay for veterinary care.
“We believe all pet parents should have pet insurance, but we know that understanding and navigating pet insurance choices can be confusing and overwhelming,” said Brock Weatherup, Petco’s executive vice president of strategic innovation and digital experience.
“By bringing PetInsuranceQuotes.com’s easy-to-use health care system to our customers, we’re making the choice as simple as possible and further expanding our ability to offer personalized solutions for complete pet health.”
Petco acquired PetInsuranceQuotes.com from founder Nick Braun, MBA. Terms were not disclosed.
A competitor, PetInsuranceReview.com, was sold in May 2017 to London-based Equimedia.