Canines are the preferred pets within the US, with 65.1 million households, in keeping with the American Pet Merchandise Affiliation. However whereas cats are simply across the nook, with 46.5 million households proudly owning one, a lot innovation within the pet class is targeted solely on canines. And though the service caters to each species, the main target is extra on canines.
Sonya Petkovic, founding father of the Meowtel app for cats, believes that cats and cat individuals deserve extra.
When Petkovic’s cat Lily died in 2015, she realized that she may not have been the perfect cat mother. Petkovich traveled so much for her gross sales job at Philip Morris and wasn’t house as a lot as she thought her older cat may want. She knew pet sitting companies existed, however she did not suppose they did sufficient for feline buddies.
“There must be a service particularly for cat individuals; they’ve very totally different wants,” Petkovic instructed TechCrunch. “Rover had been round for just a few years and Wag was gaining momentum, however they have been so targeted on the canine. I mentioned, “Rattling, I’ll be a loopy cat doing that.”
She took $100,000 of her personal cash, discovered a growth staff, and launched Meowtel in 2015. The startup is a market for cat house owners to discover a cat sitter and solely hires individuals who have direct expertise with issues like medicating cats (cats are particularly susceptible to continual diseases as they become older) and caring for cats with particular wants . Potential supervisors undergo a rigorous six-step course of earlier than they’re allowed to affix this system. This features a 30 minute name with the Meowtel staff to ensure they’re an actual particular person, which different websites do not do. Petkovic joked that it was simpler to get into Harvard than to turn into a Meowtel sitter.
Since its inception, the corporate has been working largely in stealth mode. Petkovic mentioned the corporate is simply now popping out of stealth mode as a result of the staff has put within the work over the previous 9 years, constructing its model and getting the consumer expertise the place it desires to be.
Meowtel is worthwhile and its gross reserving income is rising at 50% yr over yr. The corporate has greater than 2,200 supervisors on the platform, a few of whom have been with Meowtel for all 9 years. The corporate has accomplished greater than 95,000 go to requests and is especially targeted on main cities together with New York and Los Angeles. It’s seeking to broaden its paw print to smaller cities as nicely.
Meowtel acquired thus far by elevating just below $1 million in enterprise capital. Of that whole, $500,000 got here from angels, together with Launch’s Jason Calacanis and Hustle Fund normal companion Elizabeth Yin. Further capital got here from accelerator applications, together with Tech Wildcatters and Sputnik ATX. The corporate’s final funding was in 2020.
Petkovic mentioned getting VC cash was tough as a result of the VC neighborhood is extra targeted on canines, and many individuals do not perceive why cats want their very own grooming companies. Petkovic mentioned that even now, she wished to pursue Meowtel’s enterprise funding due to its market-based enterprise mannequin, which she believes lends itself nicely to enterprise capital. Additionally, due to the big quantity of capital in marketable enterprises, she believed that enterprise capital cash made probably the most sense.
She’s proper that there appear to be much more dog-focused VCs than cat-focused VCs. There are a number of startups that concentrate on areas similar to the perfect pet food, equipment, and even well being. Butternut Field, a UK-based pet food firm, has raised greater than $466 million in enterprise capital funding. ImpriMed, a canine oncology startup, raised $23 million in November, and Fi, a sensible collar for canines, raised greater than $40 million in enterprise capital.
As for cats, there are noticeably fewer of them. Smalls, a recent pet meals firm, is likely one of the few venture-backed firms within the class. The corporate raised $19 million final yr, and founder Matthew Michaelson instructed TechCrunch’s Christine Corridor that he additionally believes innovation within the pet class is essentially targeted on canines.
However does the market actually need cat sitting companies? Petkovic says sure, and her firm’s success to this point and progress trajectory appear to bear that out.
“Within the period of 2020, there is a model that caters to each particular sort of viewers that exists,” Petkovic mentioned. “These species are totally different, however nobody makes that distinction. I feel the psychology of the cat proprietor, the medical wants of the cat itself actually opened up that blue ocean.”