Embrace Pet Insurance

“Without JumpStart there would be no Embrace. We wouldn’t be here today.”  – Embrace Co-Founder Laura Bennett

Founded by Laura Bennett and Alex Krooglik, Embrace Pet Insurance is an e-commerce, specialist insurance company selling pet insurance directly to pet owners. The duo founded the company after graduating from the Wharton School of Business in 2003 and moving to Cleveland.

At the time, Cleveland did not have significant accelerator or angel investor activity, so the pair applied for assistance from a newly formed venture development organization designed to boost entrepreneurship in the region.

That organization was JumpStart and Embrace soon became one of the first Evergreen Fund portfolio companies.

JumpStart eventually invested a total of $800k into the company over the course of three years, while providing technical assistance and helping to connect Bennett and Krooglik with other sources of funding.

Today, Embrace has more than 50 employees and has been named one of Northeast Ohio’s Top Workplaces by The Plain Dealer.