Why this pet app entrepreneur pivoted to a B2B focus

I recently interviewed Emily Dong, the creator of Pawprint, the highest rated pet health app in the app store. Pawprint stores medical records for over 65,000 pets in North America.

Emily recently sold Pawprint to Metamorphosis Partners, a company run by Brock Weatherup, a pet industry veteran who was previously with Petco following the acquisition of his startup PetCoach. He also founded Pet360, a pet-focused media company that was acquired by PetSmart.

Metamorphosis acquires companies – its portfolio includes Barkly Pets (dog walking platform), Muttropolis (ecommerce) and The Anxious Pet (pet anxiety products.)

Emily explained that while gathering medical records from vet clinics, the Pawprint team discovered that the clinics also needed help collecting pet records. And the clinics were happy to pay someone to do this for them.  

Realizing this B2B focus provided a more profitable opportunity than its existing consumer app, Pawprint pivoted its business to focus on helping vet clinics.

However, the small Pawprint team didn’t have the resources to both maintain the consumer app and develop the new service for clinics. So, Emily spun off the Pawprint app to Metamorphosis and created a new company, called SnoutID, to focus on working with vet clinics.

Read the entire interview here.

Also, If you know a pet entrepreneur who has an interesting story and would like to share it, email me at mike@mydogisarobot.com.

4 new pet products funded to the tune of $150,000 on Kickstarter
 

A handful of new pet products have been successfully funded on Kickstarter this month.

Clawgs – bills itself as paw-wear that allows your dog to use its claws. Looks like dog shoes with holes for the claws to stick out. Has raised over $87,000 from more than 1,000 backers.

Moflin – an AI pet robot that moves and makes sounds. Created by Tokyo-based Vanguard Industries. Has raised over $31,000 from more than 85 backers.

Alvinoo – a smart water fountain for dogs and cats. The NYC-based project has raised $21,000 from 192 backers.

PuppyDoc – a dog activity and sun exposure tracker.Created by JMsmart, a San Diego-based team that develops IoT devices. Has raised over $11,000 from 108 backers.

Sundays, a dog food startup, scores $2.27 million in funding 

Sundays, a new entry into the crowded dog food market, announced it has secured $2.27 million in funding from Red Sea Ventures, Box Group and several other venture capital firms.

Sundays dog food is a hybrid of kibble and refrigerated meals. It is human-grade and created through an air drying process.

The founders of the company are Michael Waxman, who previously founded the dating app Grouper and his wife, Tori Waxman, a veterinarian.  

The company soft launched its first product in February and now has over 1,000 paying customers.
 

Other News

• Purina pet food sales hit  $7.6 billion for the first six months of 2020
• Pumpkin, the pet insurance company launched by Zoetis earlier this year, is now available in all 50 US states
• Petriage, the fast growing veterinary telehealth startup, announced that it has been named the preferred telehealth solution for Veterinary Growth Partners, an organization of 5,500 vet hospitals
• Snapchat has released a filter that will make your dog look like a Disney character