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Image Credits:Sonya Petcavich / Meowtel
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dog are the most popular pet in the U.S. : 65.1 million households have one , according to theAmerican Pet Products Association . But while cats are not far off , with 46.5 million menage with one , a lot of innovation in the pet family has focus solely on dog . And even if the service serves both species , the direction is more prominently on weenie .
Sonya Petcavich , the beginner of cat - sitting app Meowtel , think that cat , and cat people , deserve more .
When Petcavich ’s cat Lily died in 2015 , she realized she might not have been the sound cat mom . Petcavich traveled a hatful for her caper in sales for Philip Morris and was n’t home as much as she thought her elderly cat might have needed . She knew that pet - sitting services existed , but she did n’t think they did enough for feline friends .
“ There demand to be a help for cat mass specifically ; they have very different motivation , ” Petcavich separate TechCrunch . “ Rover had been around for a few years , and Wag was picking up steam , but they were so dog-iron focused . I say , ‘ Fuck it , I ’m going to be the crazy African tea person who does this . ’ ”
She take up $ 100,000 of her own money , found a developer squad and launch Meowtel in 2015 . The inauguration is a marketplace for cat owners to find cat sitter and only hires people who have lineal experience with things like giving cats medicine ( big cat are especiallyprone to inveterate illness as they get older ) and taking upkeep of cats with special need . Prospective sitters go through a rigorous six - step cognitive process until they ’re permit to join the app . This includes a 30 - moment call with the Meowtel team to control that they are a real person , something other sit sites do n’t do . Petcavich jest it ’s easier to get into Harvard than it is to become a Meowtel broody .
The company has been operate for the most part in stealth since its introduction . Petcavich say the company only hail out of stealth now because for the last nine years , the team has put in the study , built up its brand and puzzle its user experience where it wanted it to be .
Meowtel is profitable and its utter booking volume revenue is grow 50 % twelvemonth over yr . The troupe has more than 2,200 sitters on the platform , some of whom have been with Meowtel for all nine years . The troupe has completed more than 95,000 sitting requests and has largely focalise on bigger metropolis , including New York and Los Angeles . It ’s looking to expand its paw print to smaller cities , too .
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Meowtel has made it to this point promote just under $ 1 million in venture Washington . Of that total , $ 500,000 came from angels , include Jason Calacanis ’ Launch and Elizabeth Yin , a worldwide collaborator at Hustle Fund . extra capital come from accelerator pedal political platform , including Tech Wildcatters and Sputnik ATX . The companionship ’s most recent funding was in 2020 .
Petcavich said that raising from VCs was hard because the speculation uppercase community is more dog - centric and many the great unwashed did n’t get why cat require their own sitting service . Petcavich said that even still , she wanted to prosecute venture funding for Meowtel because of its marketplace business model , which she reckon made it a good fit for VCs . Also , due to the working capital - toilsome nature of market place clientele , she suppose VC money made the most sense .
She ’s right that there seems to be significantly more speculation - backed companies centre on dogs than there are on cats . There are several startup focused on areas such as better frank food , accessories and even one focused on health . Butternut Box , a U.K.-based heel nutrient company , has call down more than $ 466 million in VC funding . ImpriMed , a dog-iron oncology inauguration , raise $ 23 million in November , andFi , a smart frump pinch , has raised more than $ 40 million in venture working capital .
As for the cats , there are perceptibly fewer . Fresh favored food caller Smalls is one of the few venture - endorse company in the category . Itraised $ 19 millionlast class , and its founder Matthew Michaelson separate TechCrunch ’s Christine Hall that he also conceive innovation in the favored class has largely been focused on dogs .
But does the market really need , or have the ability to bear out , a sit around divine service just for Caterpillar ? Petcavich says yes , and her companionship ’s winner so far and growth flight seem to back that up .
“ In the earned run average of 2020 , there is a brand that caters to every specific type of consultation that exists , ” Petcavich say . “ These metal money are different , but no one is making that distinction . I think it ’s the psychology of the cat possessor , the aesculapian needs of the computed axial tomography itself , that really opened up this gloomy ocean . ”
