The Booming PetTech landscape 🐶🐱

Our dogs, cats, lizards, and gerbils are members of our family, but we don’t need to tell you that. Yesterday was National Pet Parents Day, a day used to recognize the bond between pets and pet owners. With 85 million families (67% of households, and growing) who are parents to a pet, the market potential is huge. The PetTech industry -- a $100BN+ market in the U.S. alone -- also happens to be recession-proof, and as the last year has shown, pandemic-proof.

Welcome to the Golden Age 
The years 2020 and 2021 are truly the golden age of the pet industry, as we continue to spend more time home with our pets. We’ve seen foster rates skyrocket well over 100% YoY, with some city rescues and shelters even seeing a 1,000% increase in application rates. Moreover, funding is materializing, as two vet care start-ups -- Bondvet and Small Door -- are off to great starts since their founding in 2018 and 2017, respectively. Bondvet received Series A funding last November; Small Door received Series A funding just this month.

Follow the Treats
The funding boom in PetTech is innovating a sector that had otherwise been largely untouched by innovation and is currently applying human solutions to dogs and cats as they truly become our family members. In 2020, $103.6BN was spent on our pets, translating to 39% on pet food and treats; 30% on vet care and product sales; and 20% on the animals themselves as well as supplies & OTC medicine.

Some Examples. The app Wag is often described as “Uber for dog walkers,” and Rover connects pet parents with a network of walkers and sitters. Embark provides genetic testing for all the mutts out there (developed by veterinarians in partnership with Cornell University). In terms of wearables, Whistle and Fi have pioneered the Fitbit for pets, a wearable that monitors activity and location when worn on the collar. And there are also subscription boxes, where you can get toys and treats on Barkbox or subscription meal plans such as NomNomNow, Ollie Pet or The Farmer’s Dog too.

What it means
The pet industry has certainly undergone a massive transformation, especially during the pandemic. The growing number of pet parents certainly means there is a lot more opportunity, even if the market landscape is getting more crowded.