Embrace Pet Insurance Blog

Happy dog adoption story

Last year, Lea found a dog at Case Western University that needed a home and I blogged about it in the hopes we would find someone to adopt her (North-east Ohio area dog and some kittens needing homes). Nugget was a small but loving pit bull mix that had been on the streets for a while and needed a caring home to go to.

Lea did find a home for Nugget and has posted an update over at the Embrace Pet Community blog on how she's doing. Nugget lucked out and has a wonderful grandma who loves her enough to send a letter to Lea from Nugget saying how she's doing.

I do love a happy adoption story to kick off my day. Warm and fuzzy all over.

Check out the update in Lea's post Happy Story from our foster friend, Nugget.

Lily and Barnes visit our new office

We're well ensconced in our new digs and now that we have our own space (as opposed to sharing with another early stage company), we can bring in our pets and allow them to wander the halls.

Lily and Barnes came for the day yesterday and they had mixed reactions. Barnes was a little more curious but Lily at one point completely disappeared and ALL of us ended up looking for her.

We finally found her under my desk, not on the cat shelf there (who knew that desks came with such things!) but under the drawers under the desk, tucked right into the back in the shadows. She's a wily one!

Have you ever taken your dogs or cats to work and how did that work out for you?

We're moving!

Now that Christmas is over, what better thing to do to refresh ourselves in the New Year than to move offices.

Yes well!

I like moving the furniture about to feel renewed the same as the next person but if we didn't have to move, we wouldn't be. It's quite the distraction. But our favorite landlord thought it would be a good idea if she put a data center in in the middle of our office, which meant we had to move 2 buildings down the road. Oh well, it's a great excuse to spring-clean early.

View Larger Map

So, our new address is as follows:

781 Beta Drive, Suite B, Mayfield Village, OH 44143.

The phone numbers stay the same except the local fax number, which is now (440) 399-3027.

Consider at donation to projects at DonorsChoose.org this holiday season

We recently received a gift certificate from Google as a result of our paid search spending over 2007.

Just when I was getting really excited about spending it on a coffee machine for our new offices (more on that in another post), Alex pointed me in the direction of DonorsChoose.org and told me to spend spend spend.

[Now before you think Alex got all altruistic on me, I should tell you that DonorsChoose.org was what the object of the gift cert from Google - I'm very impressed]

So, I just went over to the site to learn more about what we were donating to and was delighted to find a wonderful concept close to my heart I just had to tell you about.

In short, DonorsChoose.org allows the donor to choose amongst a variety of school projects across the US that need funding. The teacher puts together a pitch for the project, what the money is going to be used for, and the amount needed, and you get to make a charitable donation towards it.

The story behind the site is totally borne from one teacher's frustration in the public school system:

DonorsChoose.org was pioneered by teachers at a Bronx public high school in the spring of 2000. Charles Best, then a social studies teacher, saw first-hand the scarcity of materials in our public school classrooms and the profound impact of this scarcity on kids' education. Looking for a way to address this problem, he sensed an untapped potential in people who were frustrated by their lack of influence over the use of their charitable donations. DonorsChoose.org, a website connecting classrooms in need with individuals who want to help, was born.

Embrace donated to the "Chillin' with a Chapter Book" project at Glendale Primary School in Bedford, Ohio to buy books for students to help reading skills. Here's their teacher's pitch:

I am a third grade teacher and would love to bring the love of reading into my classroom. I would like to give my current and future students the opportunity of reading four different chapter books together in class.

In third grade all students must take the OAT reading achievement test. I would like to incorporate these chapter books into helping them study for the test. We will have out loud reading, quiet time reading, read in pairs, and book discussions. I will make up practice tests with subjects that they will see on the OAT test; such as predicting, summarizing, cause & effect, characters, setting, plot, and author's purpose,etc.

I am asking for a donation of 27 copies of four different books. I would like the same book for each student so we can discuss the same book as a class. I am hoping this will improve scores on the OAT and that it will familiarize the students with some interesting books that they may want to read the remaining books in the series on their own.

A classroom can never have enough books. Thank you for all your support.

My project needs 27 copies each of Annoying Team, Third Grade Detectives #1&2, Jake Drake Know-It-All, and Zombies Don't Play Soccer. The cost of this proposal is $566, which includes shipping for any materials requested and fulfillment.

I totally agree, a classroom can never have enough books. I'm glad we could do our part.

If you like, you could do your part too for this project or any other you take a fancy to.

'Tis the season after all.

Happy holidays!

Progressive Pet Insurance - now your dog and cat are insured in a collision

Welcome Progressive Insurance policyholders to Embrace!

Finally, a car insurer that gets the role of pets in our lives. Progressive has added a $500 Pet Injury Protection endorsement to all its auto insurance policies where the company will pay $500 towards vet bills from a car accident.

But why was this needed anyway? Wouldn't a pet be covered anyway if it is in an insured car?

Surprisingly, not necessarily. If someone hits your car and injures your dog or cat, the vet bills are covered under their policy under their property damage coverage (pets being property under the law) but if you have an accident and there's no other car involved or the other driver doesn't have insurance, your pet's injuries just aren't covered - up until now that is.

Of course, we all know that $500 won't take you very far if a pet is seriously injured so Embrace Pet Insurance has partnered with Progressive, along with another pet insurer, to provide full pet insurance policies to those people who want something more than just coverage while their pet is in the car. Progressive policyholders get a 5% discount too.

Embrace Pet Insurance policies add coverage for:

• accidents like being hit by a car, or injesting poison, or having an allergic reaction to a bee sting, or tearing a cruciate ligament
• cancer of all kinds like osteosarcoma or lymphoma
• hereditary conditions such as hip dysplasia, epilepsy, and skin allergies
• contagious diseases like Lyme Disease and coronavirus sickenesses
• diagnostic treatments like bloodwork, MRIs and CT scans
• alternative and complementary therapies like acupuncture, chiropractic treatments and homeopathic care
• hospitalization and return vet visits for all these conditions
• prescription drugs and dental illness care (optional)

The list goes on...

We're delighted to partner with such a far-sighted auto insurer - let's hope the dogs and cats of the US don't think they can drive the cars now!

Embrace Pet Community

Do we ever have a Christmas present for you!

Some of you may have clued in to this but we have released a new website. No, it's not the Embrace Pet Insurance website (coming early 2007) but it's the Embrace Pet Community website www.embracepetcommunity.com.

The Embrace Pet Community is a pet-related online association that focuses on shopping for your four-legged fur kids - what more could you want?!

You can find deals from our unique partners, shopping forums to find deals with help from other pet parents (looking for freebies or some hard to find bargains? This is the place for you), a pet shopping blog, and there is a super-duper feature that's not quite ready yet but you can read about it on the website here.

We think you just might find this useful so please spread the word... The more, the merrier.

Embrace Pet Insurance at the Cleveland Crown Classic Dog Show

If you happen to be in the Cleveland area this week (December 14-17 2006) and want to meet some of the Embrace gang, come join us at the Cleveland Crown Classic Dog Show at the IX Center out near the airport where we will have a booth.

The IX Center will host thousands of breeders and dogs all vying for the coveted Best in Show prizes for the various breeds. It's a great way to see pretty well all the purebred dog types in one spot. Be careful though - you might just come away with a puppy or two!

Look out for our booth close to the entrance. We'll be giving out Wysong dog biscuits to everyone who stops by and maybe even have some decent coffee for those of you arriving early.

We'll also be showing off our new online quoting system in beta mode so come and help us test it out to make it the best it can be.

How to get there: directions

Hours: 8am to 6:00pm Thursday Dec 14 - Sunday Dec 17 2006 (finishes at about 4pm on Sunday though)

Cost: $8 for adults, $4 for children 4 - 11. Free under 4. Parking is $8.00.

Cleveland's Plain Dealer article about Embrace Pet Insurance

I've been so busy over the last couple of days, I didn't get a chance to tell you about an article that was written in the Plain Dealer, Cleveland's city newspaper on Tuesday, Oct 17 2006. It was titled "Pet insurer joins Lloyd's of London unit."

It also had a somewhat OK picture of me sitting beside an Embrace sign. The photo was definitely helped by the fact that I happened to wear a red sweater that matched our logo, which was complete luck! I must remember that trick again. We nearly snuck the hamsters in the photo but the photographer pulled them at the last minute.

This was my favorite quote from the article:

"Bennett grew up in England and immigrated to Canada with her family when she was 16.

She moved to Pennsylvania in the early 2000s to attend business school. She and her husband, John, have two daughters, Ellie and Erin. "In the time that it's taken to research and implement this business, I've had two children," Bennett laughed."

Thank goodness I didn't wait, is all I can say :)

Jumpstart ezine highlights Embrace Pet Insurance launch

Last week we were fortunate to get a mention in the Jumpstart biweekly ezine right after we launched, which helped kickstart some local awareness. Jumpstart now has 18 portfolio companies and has only just started to add portolio company news to the well-circulated newsletter so you have jump up and down pretty hard to get noticed.

As a result of their article, I was interviewed for an article in the Cleveland newspaper, The Plain Dealer. Wall Street Journal, here we come :)

Every Dog Has Their Day

This week JumpStart announced an investment commitment in its 18th portfolio company - AnalizaDx. AnalizaDx is developing groundbreaking biomarker technology that could redefine early stage cancer diagnostics.

Cancer drugs are more effective when cancer is diagnosed in its very early stages. The AnalizaDx technology identifies cancer biomarkers based on changes in their structure and uses tests that are easy and relatively inexpensive to administer, thus enabling earlier stage detection.

And humans weren't the only ones getting great news this week. If you recall, in December of 2004, JumpStart announced an investment in Embrace Pet Insurance. Since making that commitment, founders Laura Bennett and Alex Krooglik, along with JumpStart executive-in-residence Mark Smith, have worked very hard to build the business, secure an underwriting partner, attract follow-on funding, and hire some very talented people.

All of their hard work resulted in the company reaching several major milestones. For instance, they just concluded a $725,000 round of financing, the overwhelming majority of which was raised from the local Angel Investor community. With this round of financing, Embrace has raised in excess of one million dollars to support the continued growth of the company.

Ultimately, their ability to sell pet health insurance in the U.S. market depended upon securing an affiliation with an underwriter. Pet health insurance in other parts of the world is a multi-billion dollar industry but is only a fraction of that in the U.S. As underwriters surveyed the potential of the U.S. market, Embrace was selected to be underwritten by certain underwriters at Lloyd's of London; their first foray into the U.S. market. 

With these major milestones accomplished, it is my sincere pleasure to announce that cats and dogs from coast to coast can now breathe a sigh of relief; provided of course their owners call (800) 511-9172. As of this week, Embrace is now selling health insurance policies for your beloved cat or dog. For the moment, you can only buy a policy by calling the number above; however, by year's end you will be able to purchase policies online at Embrace's website.

Getting to the point that they are now "open for business" was no small task. In addition to the very early stage (critical) dollars we invest, our business model also provides thousands of hours of assistance to our portfolio companies to accomplish the many vital tasks that are required to build a high-potential organization.

Whether it is a sophisticated financial product like insurance or a promising new biomarker technology, JumpStart portfolio companies are doing the hard work that is laying the foundation for tomorrow's economy, one cat (or dog) at a time.

Respectfully yours,

Thom Ruhe
Chief Marketing Officer, JumpStart Inc.
email: thom.ruhe@jumpstartinc.org
phone: (216) 363-3400

Embrace Pet Insurance is open for business

Call Embrace Pet Insurance at (800) 511 9172 or (440) 484 2260 to learn about pet insurance, get a quote or buy a policy. Or just call us to talk about your pets.

Hours: 9am - 5pm EST Monday to Friday. Underwritten by certain underwriters at Lloyd's of London.

I almost can't believe it myself but it's true - Embrace Pet Insurance is open for business through our call center- not a moment too soon I say! Our totally awesome new look website will come later in November and you will be able to quote online then.

This day has been in my dreams for more than 4 years and it has come and gone. I must admit, it's exhilerating and petrifying at the same time. Now is the time we bare all and let you take a look at the goods. Don't hold back - let us know what you think!

I'll be posting quite a bit about our products over the coming weeks. Any thoughts and questions are sincerely welcome.

Laura Bennett
Chief Embracer & Co-Founder