By Doreen Hemlock
Catherine Dennig learned the hard way how expensive medical bills can be for pets. She was a college student when her beloved cat Simba was diagnosed with cancer. The veterinarian said treatment would cost $12,000. She didn’t have the money. Simba died a week later. She was heartbroken.
“I felt I should have known better or prepared better,” she says.
After college, when working at Facebook as a product manager, Dennig realized her experience was hardly unique. A fellow volunteer at a pet shelter faced an $8,000 bill to treat her dog’s torn ligament. New pet insurance couldn’t help; policies offered would not cover pre-existing conditions.
Passionate about pets, Dennig and her friend Keji Xu launched a venture in 2020, Fursure, to raise awareness about the medical expenses and offer insurance early. The duo have since been named to Forbes magazine’s 30 under 30 list for North America.
“We want people to be able to give pets the care they need without it being a financial decision,” says Dennig, who now proudly parents an Australian shepherd named Zushi (Dennig and Zushi are pictured above).
So far, Fursure has raised more than $3 million in funding, with its seed round led by San Francisco groups Streamlined Ventures and Moxxie Ventures. The venture employs nine people, who all work remote, including one in Canada and three in the Philippines. Having employees in Asian time zones helps provide round-the-clock service for customers, says Dennig, who grew up in Hong Kong.
Business today is in puppy stages. A licensed pet insurance broker, Fursure has sold thousands of policies to date, working with such providers as Trupanion and Pets Best, Dennig says. It’s now testing out its Fursure Card, a Visa-brand pet rewards debit card. The card offers five points per dollar spent on pet care, plus one point per dollar spent on other purchases. Several dozen vet clinics have signed up to redeem the points, and some 15,000 people already are “on a waiting list,” says Dennig.
A surging market: Millennials “parenting” pets
The venture taps a large and growing market. Dennig says many fellow Millennials are waiting to have children, “and we’re practicing parenting on our pets.” In 2021, the U.S. pet industry – including food, grooming, medical care and other spending – rose to $123 billion, up 14 percent from 2020, says researcher Packaged Facts. The number of U.S. pets insured last year increased to 3.9 million, up 28 percent, with premiums near $2.6 billion, says the North American Pet Health Insurance Association.
FurSure’s investors see opportunity to chirp about. Tweeted Moxxie: “We are huge animal lovers, so it was a no-brainer to back … @getfursured… We want pet insurance to be less confusing and less expensive for everyone.”
Moving to Miami: a head-start on California time
FurSure launched in San Francisco, but Dennig moved to Miami last year. She’d considered tech hubs in Los Angeles, New York and Austin, but chose South Florida for its lower cost of living and higher quality of life, including easy access to the ocean to pursue her love of scuba diving.
Dennig appreciates that Miami’s east coast time gives her a three-hour head-start on her California colleagues. “It gives me amazing mornings to be productive, without being rushed,” she says. Miami also provides an easier time difference to call her family in Hong Kong and proximity to New York teammates, she adds. Plus, Denning’s life partner fits into Miami well, running a crypto venture capital fund.
“There’s something really magical about the energy that’s in Miami right now,” says 29-year-old Dennig, a Princeton graduate.
Still, leading a startup has challenges. Perhaps the biggest for Dennig: “Ruthless prioritization.” Her team uses a planning process developed by Intel chief Andy Grove based on setting objectives and tracking key results. “Every quarter we get together and set five or six objectives, each with three to five results that are deliverable, measurable and defined,” she says. For example, to build a motivating company culture, the team holds virtual events monthly. Colleagues recently met in person in Miami and “had the time of our lives,” says Dennig. It was a welcome reversal from heartbreak over tabby cat Simba.
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