The first Malaysian pet insurance agency, Oyen Sdn Bhd, plans to build a sustainable, profitable business for the long run by fully opting for digital insurance.
Sharing why Oyen decided on the digital platform, co-founder and chief executive officer Kevin Hoong said its customer base mainly comprises people in the mid-20s to mid-30s and they are digitally experienced.
“We started the business during the pandemic, so it was not possible for people to meet their agents face to face. Hence we need to build a product that is approachable,” he told Bernama.
Oyen offers cat insurance starting from RM32 per month, dog insurance from RM51 per month, and the newly launched travel insurance from RM66 per trip.
In line with its big vision, Hoong said, Oyenhas introduced a cat mascot as well as travel insurance that offers protection for both pet owners and their pets.
He said the launch of the cat mascot could play a role to further its goal to remain sustainable digitally.
“Instead of talking to an insurance agent, a customer would be chatting with a cat agent online which gives all the educational content needed by the customer.
“A digital experience will also help us be more efficient because we can cut or minimise paperwork and that will also cater to our customer base of millennials or young people,” he added.
Established in 2021, the company recorded a six fold increase in revenue and customer base from 2021 to 2022. Hoong said Oyen is open to new investors who share the same vision and is keen to bring in the right partners.
“In terms of where we want to spend, the most important is everything around the user experience –everything in the technology that we build to make sure that we can continue to leverage technology to give a better customer experience,” he said.
Coming from a family of business owners and entrepreneurs, Hoong has been inspired by his parents’ success and admires their work ethic.
The inspiration behind starting Oyen was Hoong’s personal experience as a first-time pet owner, having a cat named Oyen, during the pandemic and hearing a friend and cat owner worrying about vet bills.
“One of my friends has a cat with a kidney problem and had to pay a bill of around RM2,000 that she never expected.
“This kind of concern motivated us to build something for pet owners,” he explained.
Last month, during the launch of Oyen brand’s new look, Hoong said the company has raised RM1.7 million through seed funding and is targeting to have 50,000 pets covered in Malaysia and 100,000 in South East Asia by 2025.
He said Oyen has never worked with external agents to maintain consistency in the customer experience.
“We are very mindful about controlling the end-to-end experience and that is why we took the decision not to work with external agents.
“We only have two people doing sales and we scale every personalisation and marketing with technology,” he said.
