The Vets, a new mobile veterinary platform, announced Thursday it raised a whopping $40 million in seed funding from Bolt Ventures, PICO Venture Partners and Target Global, an international investment firm that also co-founded the startup.
Founded in 2021 as part of Target Global’s venture building program, The Vets is one of many young companies aiming to make pet care virtual. Pet parents can use the platform to connect with a veterinarian to not only discuss medical conditions and care, but also get a full diagnostic that includes a blood workup and vitals check. The Vets also aggregates the data gathered during these visits to more accurately diagnose cases in the future, offer healthcare predictions and get a better understanding of each unique breed.
Its virtual nature is also designed to benefit the pet practitioners themselves. According to data gathered by the American Veterinary Medical Association and Association of Veterinary Technician Educators, veterinarian turnover is double that of physicians, and they usually work about five to six days a week and see more than 20 pets a day. Alternatively, The Vets encourages its vets to have four-day workweeks, and has a daily appointment limit to ensure a better work-life balance.
“For too long, veterinarians have been overworked, underpaid, and under-appreciated. At our core, we believe happy, healthy pets come from happy, healthy vets,” co-founder and CEO Daniel Sagis said in a statement. “This funding round will further position The Vets as the next generation of pet healthcare, leveraging preemptive technology, allowing us to strengthen our footprint and penetrate new markets much more efficiently and effectively.”
In less than a year, The Vets has served more than 7,000 pets, and is currently operating in Miami, Tampa, Dallas, Austin, Houston, Portland, Seattle, Las Vegas, Denver and, as of this week, New York City. In light of this fresh funding, the startup says it plans to be in 25 U.S. cities by the end of this year to keep up with growing demand.
Meanwhile, tech-enabled pet care as a whole seems to have really taken off amid the pandemic. As pet ownership continues to rise, and telehealth becomes increasingly common, a growing number of startups (and investors) are looking to cash in on the moment. Dog DNA testing startup Embark, for instance, raised a $75 million Series B led by SoftBank over the summer, later joined by digital pet pharmacy Mixlab, which closed on a $20 million Series A. And just a couple months ago, NYC-based Bond Vet got a massive $170 million investment from VC giant Warburg Pincus amid a national expansion.
And Shmuel Chafets, the chairman of The Vets and a co-founder of Target Global, seems to think both The Vets and this industry still have a lot of room for growth. He says the pet industry is worth about $100 billion now, and is expected to nearly triple to $275 billion within the next ten years — mainly due to a surge in new millennial and Gen Z owners who are willing to spend more on their animals.
“We believe the market opportunity to transform how pet owners and veterinarians interact is enormous,” Chafets said, “and only see this trend growing further in the future.” He added, “the U.S. pet care industry has hit a critical inflection point and I am so excited to be working with Daniel and his great team to bring this product into millions of homes in the coming years.”
