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Online pet insurer OneDegree raises US$28 million amid strong investor appetite for Hong Kong digital start-ups

  • Success of fundraising exercise suggests investors are still confident about digital insurance start-ups in Hong Kong, co-founder says
  • OneDegree is, in fact, just the latest Hong Kong start-up to announce its fundraising plans over the past seven days

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The waterfront in Hong Kong’s Tung Chung district. The city is home to more than 600,000 pets, says OneDegree co-founder Alvin Kwock Yin-lun. Photo: Felix Wong
Enoch Yiu
OneDegree, Hong Kong’s only online pet insurer, has raised US$28 million in its latest funding round, it said on Monday.
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The start-up is among four purely online insurers that started operations last year as part of a push by the Hong Kong Insurance Authority to promote the use of more technology by the insurance sector to reduce costs and enhance services. Such companies can only use the internet and apps to sell their products and cannot hire agents.

“The success of our fundraising exercise indicates investors are still confident about digital insurance start-ups in Hong Kong,” said Alvin Kwock Yin-lun, OneDegree’s co-founder and a former JPMorgan banker.

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The company is, in fact, just the latest Hong Kong start-up to announce its fundraising plans over the past seven days, which suggests that the city’s firms remain attractive to investors despite Beijing’s regulatory crackdown, which has since July created a lot of volatility in the stock markets in Hong Kong and mainland China.
For instance, DayDayCook, a Hong Kong-based recipe hub founded by Norma Chu, an online influencer and former HSBC banker, said on Thursday last week that it would list in the United States through a merger with a New York-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). A day later, Hong Kong logistics company GoGoX filed to go public in the city.
Kwock, the co-founder of online insurer OneDegree. Photo: Handout
Kwock, the co-founder of online insurer OneDegree. Photo: Handout
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“China’s regulatory crackdown may have led to a sell-off in Hong Kong and mainland stocks recently, but investors still believe in the long-term development of the country,” said Robert Lee, vice-chairman of industry body Hong Kong Securities Association. “In addition, the latest tightening has led companies rethink going public in the US, with more planning to list in Hong Kong instead,” he added.

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