ManyPets hits £216m GWP in year to 31 March 2022

MGA ManyPets has reported gross written premium (GWP) of £216m for the year to 31 March 2022, according to its year-end financial results published on 24 November 2022.

The firm additionally confirmed that its revenue had improved by 21% year-on-year.

The MGA attributed its growth in the last year to investment in customer acquisitions, which has bolstered the company’s market share in both the UK and Sweden - ManyPets currently insures more than 500,000 cats and dogs across these countries.

Speaking exclusively to Insurance Times, Luisa Barile, chief financial officer at ManyPets, said: “From a financial perspective we have grown during the financial year [by] 50%.” 

ManyPets launched initially in the UK in 2012 under the brand name Bought By Many. It subsequently launched in Sweden in 2019  and then in the US in March 2021 ahead of rebranding to ManyPets in March 2022.

“Last year has been a year of continued growth in the UK – which is still the biggest market for us,” Barile continued. ”But also, it was the first year of operation in the US, which has been a big part of our strategy and investment.”

Impact of inflation 

According to its financial results statement, ManyPets made a loss in the year to 31 March 2022 as it continued to invest significantly in its UK and Sweden operations, as well as fund other international expansion plans. 

Barile stated in the results report: ”The directors recognise that the global economy is weakening with numerous countries warning of impending recession.

”Unlike other more common insurance types, pet insurance is not a compulsory requirement for pet owners and, as such, rising inflation and recession has a direct impact on customers’ needs to purchase or renew policies.

”The directors are closely monitoring the global impacts with key stakeholders to mitigate any negative impact on the business.”

The MGA’s loss for the year to 31 March 2022 after tax was £31m - this is up from £22m in the previous financial year.

Barile explained that investment in ManyPets’ US operations contributed to this figure - this was made upfront, she added, starting from March 2020.

“We have reworked our plans to make sure we are not growing too fast as this consumes money,” Barile noted. ”We had to adjust our expectation a little bit in terms of growth and profitability, taking a more cautious approach in terms of the use of our funds.” 

Technology investment

ManyPets has spent the past year focused on improving its claims journey, the financial report continued. To achieve this, it developed an in-house platform over the last 12 months which automated its claims process in the UK.

By March 2022, ManyPets had successfully automated 25% of the claims being submitted by customers across its operating territories - but the MGA hopes to grow this number. In the UK specifically, ManyPets processes 40% of pet insurance claims automatically. This functionality is not yet available for ManyPets’ US-based customers, however.

ManyPets has additionally ”built a single global platform that supports all our businesses in different countries” to drive ”down operating costs”, Barile added.

This platform is already being used in the US and will go live in the UK at the beginning of 2023.

The creation of this platform further facilitates a subscription type service for ManyPets’ customers, where they can view all of their policies in one place.

Barile continued: “For us, it’s really important to have a strategic initiative because it helps us to keep growing and scaling in an efficient way, but also enables us to do the subscription business.”