Eusoh is discontinuing its pet care product
In an email reviewed by Coverager, Eusoh, which offers an alternative to pet insurance, will shut down its pet care product on September 28, 2022.
We first covered the California-based startup in June 2018. Its founder and CEO is Allen Kamrava, a physician and surgeon, and it went on to raise just under $3.5 million. Back then, a member would pay $10 in a monthly subscription fee to access the platform for forming or joining a group of pet owners, and in the event of a medical expense, the member uploads a photo of the receipt to Eusoh, answers a few questions, and the cost gets sent into the system. An audit administrator verifies that this procedure actually happened and that it is something the group agreed to help one another with. “Our modeling, on which our software is based, has indicated that you should not expect to ever pay more than $48 in any given month, and for most months, less than that,” the company said.
About five months after going live, charges from Eusoh for expense-sharing started to come in – two hospitalizations of pet members and several routine healthcare needs. For those members that were within three groups, the fees shared at the group level were $9.17, $12.41, and $15.00. One specific procedure exceeded the group limit and the entire Eusoh community contributed $1.41 to help them out. “What a success! Comparable wellness plans charge in the range of $70-$150 per month, per pet. So, in the same time period, some of us would have spent between $280-$450 per pet on premiums alone,” the company shared in an email.
As the startup attracted more members, costs went up and it encountered instances where people attempted to take advantage of the community. A year after launching, Eusoh increased the subscription fee to $17/mo and by June 2020, the average monthly cost members were paying to support each other was $40.
Today, Eusoh looks a bit different. For starters, the subscription fee is $20/mo for dogs and $10/mo for cats. But most importantly, members pay for expense-sharing (care contribution) up front and if money is left over, it is credited to members after 12 months of membership. The care contribution cost is $55/mo for dogs and $25/mo for cats.
It’s worth noting that Eusoh offered several value-added services to members as part of the care plan. For example, Eusoh members get access to FirstVet’s telemedicine service.
According to its site, Eusoh has 32,834 registered members and the community has cared for 1,660 pets.
Here’s the email Eusoh sent to members yesterday:
