Katten survey finds pet industry ripe for private equity investment

Katten, a Chicago-based law firm, released a survey that found the pet care industry is increasingly attractive to the private equity crowd.   

While the pet space has always attracted its share of PE (e.g., investors buying up vet practices), the impact of Covid-19 has made the private equity folks even more bullish on the industry.

The coronavirus has caused a jump in pet ownership, a surge in spending on pet food and supplies, and the growth of veterinary telehealth. Outside of pet services, the industry has mostly shrugged off any economic concerns over the crisis. 

That makes pet care businesses attractive to equity investors. The survey found the following two areas most promising: 1) therapeutics (CBD) and diagnostics and 2) technology products for pet owners.     

Check out the 18 page survey here.
 

All dogs in Shenzhen, China must get microchipped by 2020
 

Shenzhen, a city of 12 million people in southern China, announced that all dogs must be microchipped by the end of the year.    

The chip will contain a unique code that, when scanned, identifies the dog’s name and breed, as well as the owner’s name and contact information. The city claims that the chips will make it easier to reunite stray pets with owners.

The Shenzhen government is footing the bill for implanting chips on the 150,000 dogs in the city.

The UK, Japan and some Australian states have previously mandated dog microchipping. 
 

Fast-growing Petriage telehealth names new CEO
 

Petriage, a Bellvue, WA-based veterinary telehealth startup, announced that Joseph Coury will succeed founder Allon Freiman as CEO of the company. 

Coury has several years experience providing banking services to vet clinics across the country. Freiman will become the chief strategy officer of the company.

Petriage developed software that helps veterinarians offer telehealth services to their clients. The company was founded in 2015 and raised $500,000 in seed funding in 2017.

Like other telehealth companies, Petriage has seen dramatic growth because of COVID-19. The company is considering Series A funding in the near future.
 

Hungry Bark scores $2.1 million

Hungry Bark, a Miami-based, direct-to-consumer dog food startup, announced that it has secured $2.1 million in non-institutional funding.

Non-institutional funding typically means the investment is from family, friends, crowdfunding, and the like.

Hungry Bark launched in March 2020 and has seen 100 percent month over month growth. The meals are customized for each dog and contain vitamin supplements and protein 
 

Other News

• Chewy is opening a 800,000 sq ft ecommerce fulfillment center in Missouri that will create up to 1,200 jobs
• Nestle revenue growth primarily driven by cat food sales 
• My Virtual Vet, a veterinary telehealth platform that won this year’s Wharton Entrepreneurship Contest, has seen strong demand for its product and is raising a Seed round