Today, we are excited to announce our investment in Dalma, a company on the mission to reinvent pet care and empower pet parents across Europe. Based in Paris, Dalma will be our third investment in France, having entered the market barely a year ago.
We are leading Dalma’s $15m Series A alongside our friends from Project A and Anterra, as well as existing investors GFC, Frst and Kima and a collective of high calibre angels from leading tech companies such as Airbnb, Blablacar and Luko.
Dalma is on a mission to create the leading pet care app in Europe, by empowering pet parents to take the best care possible of their pets, using pet insurance as their starting point to capture pet parents. Inspired by how companies like Lemonade and Luko have disrupted the experience for consumers in home insurance, Dalma has launched the most transparent, innovative and user-friendly pet insurance product available on the French market today, removing all pain points associated with incumbents when it comes to onboarding, customer support and claims processing.
Already insuring over 16,000 pets, Dalma is the fastest-growing pet insurer in France, rolling out its services in Germany very soon. With more than 325 million pets in Europe alone, there is a huge opportunity to capture in building a true partner for pet parents. We believe pet insurance is an excellent starting point to secure the trust of pet parents, which we’ve personally experienced firsthand (both as investors and passionate pet parents!) in the Nordics, where more than 90% of pets are insured.
Raphaël Sadaka, Alban De Préville and Harry Belinga (in order in the picture on the left) have first been reunited by their love for pets. They launched Dalma in May 2021, at the most pressing moment for pet parents – with the cost of living rising sharply in markets they operate in. The care experience for beloved cats or dogs’ parents was really poor. In France, the market Dalma launched first, 50% of households are owning pets, leading the way amongst European countries but yet, very late in their capacity to insure their pets, compared to Sweden and the United Kingdom. With the cost of living rising across all countries in Europe, and consequently, care for pets being more expensive than ever, they saw an opportunity to provide a new experience for pet parents.
Our partner Jessica Schultz comments on the deal: “There is a huge opportunity to disrupt the pet space, as strong tailwinds in pet ownership drive unprecedented growth in consumer demand. We are so excited and proud to be able to support the Dalma team on their journey to create not just the leading European pet insurance brand, but also to become the super app for pet parents across the continent and their number one pet care partner”