Revenue and the number of enrolled dogs and cats jumped sharply in 2018 at Trupanion Inc., helping the nation’s second-largest pet health insurer to cut its net loss.
The Seattle company reported covering a record 521,326 pets as of Dec. 31, 2018, a 12-month increase of 23 percent. Revenue swelled by 25 percent, to an all-time high of $304 million.
The half-million pet mark was reached Oct. 19, 2018.
“2018 was another year of steady growth and progress at Trupanion,” founder and CEO Darryl Rawlings said. “We grew revenue by 25 percent year over year, expanded the funds available to us to invest in pet acquisition and deployed that capital at our targeted internal rates of return.”
The gains reduced the company’s 2018 net loss to $927,000 from $1.5 million the year before.
Rawlings said Trupanion “moved the ball forward on our five strategic initiatives.” They are:
- Raising adjusted operating margins to 15 percent.
- Increasing conversion rates, or the percentage of leads converted to members.
- Improving the number of new enrollments per veterinary clinic.
- Expanding claims automation so that more claims are paid at checkout.
- Offsetting policy cancellations by persuading existing members to add pets or refer friends.
In other news, Trupanion raised $4,715 for charity at VMX 2019 and will reprise the promotion at WVC in Las Vegas.
“As part of the Trupanion booth at VMX, we decided not to buy tchotchkes to hand out to attendees but rather to donate $5 on behalf of every person that stopped by our booth to Greyhound Pets of America/Greater Orlando,” a spokesman said.
“At Western, we are doing the same thing. This time around, $5 will be donated on behalf of every person that stops by [Booth 1019] to the good folks (and pets) at Nevada SPCA.”