Pet Tech Industry News
What Happened to BlogPaws?
BlogPaws is (was?) an event for bloggers who focus on the pet industry. I went several years ago when it was in Denver and found it pretty interesting. About 300 writers, compelling speakers, a small tradeshow and a few dozen dogs and cats wandering around a hotel...
Wag Looking to Sell Itself
The dog walking startup Wag has been exploring a sale to potential buyers. Wag received a whopping $300 million investment from Softbank in 2018. This cash was supposed to fund quick growth and international expansion. Instead, sales fell 12%, while competitor Rover...
FirstVet telehealth scores €18.5 million
Swedish-based FirstVet has received €18.5 million ($20.5 million USD) in second round funding from Creandum and OMERS Ventures. FirstVet plans to use the funding to expand it's telehealth vet service into Germany, France and the US. Veterinary telehealth is the use of...
Bill Requiring Pet Insurers to Cover Pre-Existing Conditions is a Bad Idea
New York state senator James Skoufis (D-Rockland) has introduced a bill that would bar pet insurers from denying medical coverage to dogs or cats with pre-existing conditions or illnesses. While well-intentioned, this is a really dumb idea. Skoufis claims that...
Pet Spending in China Could Hit $28 Billion
Asia Times is reporting that Chinese consumers are expected to spend 202 billion yuan (US$ 28.8 billion) on cats and dogs in 2019. This would reflect an 18% increase from 2018. The number of domestic dogs and cats in China is set to reach 99 million (55 million dogs...
Rover Expands into Pet Grooming
Rover, the not-quite-unicorn-status dog walking service, has expanded it's offerings to include in-home pet grooming. Rover claims that nearly half of dog owners use professional grooming services on a regular basis. However, the current salon-focused model is...
Chewy to go Public
PetSmart, the owner of Chewy.com, has started the process to take the online pet retailer public. Chewy lost $267 million on revenue of $3.53 billion in 2018. Despite this loss, Petsmart should come out ahead as it purchased Chewy for an estimated $3.4 billion in 2017...
2019 Purina Pet Care Innovation Winners
Purina named 5 winners for the 2019 Pet Care Innovation Prize, which included $10,000 and a week at a pet business boot camp. The grand prize went to GuardianVets, a B2B telehealth service from Chicago. Other winners were: Shameless Pets, which recycles unused food...
Nuzzle & Feed and Go – Out of Business
One of the risks of using bleeding edge technology is buying a product from a young company that doesn't have a strong financial position. That appears to be the case with two pet tech startups that recently closed down: Nuzzle and Feed and Go. Nuzzle was a smart GPS...