Cat-sitting startup Meowtel clawed its way to profitability despite trouble raising from dog-focused VCs | TechCrunch

Dogs are the most popular pet in America: it’s estimated that 65.1 million households own a dog. American Pet Products AssociationBut cats aren’t far behind, with 46.5 million households owning cats, a lot of innovation in the pet category focuses solely on dogs. And even though the service serves both species, dogs get more attention.

Sonya Petkavich, founder of cat grooming app Miotel, believes cats and cat owners deserve more.

When Petkavich’s cat Lily died in 2015, she realized she probably wasn’t the best cat mom. Petkavich had to travel a lot for her job in sales for Philip Morris and wasn’t home as much as she thought her aging cat needed. She knew pet sitting services existed, but she didn’t think they were enough for feline friends.

“There should be a service specifically for cat lovers; their needs are so different,” Petkavich told TechCrunch. “Rover had been around for a few years and Wag was becoming increasingly popular, but they were only focused on dogs. I said, ‘Let go, I’ll be the crazy cat guy who does it all.'”

She took $100,000 of her own money, built a developer team, and launched Meowtel in 2015. The startup is a marketplace for cat owners to find cat caretakers and only hires people who have direct experience with things like giving cats medicine (cats are especially vulnerable to cat diseases). The risk of chronic disease increases with age) and caring for cats with special needs. Potential sitters have to go through a rigorous six-step process until they’re allowed to join the app. This includes a 30-minute call with the Meowtel team to verify they’re a real person, something other sitting sites don’t do. Petkavich joked that getting into Harvard is easier than becoming a Meowtel sitter.

The company has been operating largely in secrecy since its founding. Petkavich said the company has come out of the closet now because over the past nine years, the team has worked hard, building its brand and getting its user experience to the level it wanted.

Mewtel is profitable and its gross booking volume revenue is growing 50% year over year. The company has over 2,200 sitters on its platform, some of whom have been with Mewtel for the past nine years. The company has fulfilled over 95,000 sitting requests and is mostly focused on big cities including New York and Los Angeles. It is also looking to expand to smaller cities.

Mewtel has reached this milestone by raising approximately $1 million in venture capital. $500,000 of this total amount came from angels, including Jason Calacanis of Launch and Hustle Fund general partner Elizabeth Yin. Additional capital came from accelerator programs including Tech Wildcatters and Sputnik ATX. The company’s most recent funding was in 2020.

Petkavich said it was difficult to raise money from VCs because the venture capital community is more focused on dogs and many people didn’t understand why cats would need their own sitting service. Still, Petkavich said she wanted to pursue venture funding for Meowtel because of its marketplace business model, which she felt was a good fit for VCs. Also, because of the capital-heavy nature of marketplace businesses, she thought VC money made the most sense.

He’s right that there are far more venture-backed companies focused on dogs than cats. There are many startups focused on better dog food, accessories, and even areas focused on health. Butternut BoxThe UK-based dog food company has raised over $466 million in VC funding. Imprimeda dog oncology startup, raised $23 million in November, and FiSmart Dog Collar, has raised over $40 million in venture capital.

As for cats, there are far fewer of them. Fresh pet food company Smalls is one of the few venture-backed companies in this category. raised $19 million Last year, its founder Matthew Michaelson told TechCrunch’s Christine Hall that he also believes innovation in the pet category has been primarily focused on dogs.

But does the market really need or have the capacity to support a cat sitting service? Petkavich says yes, and her company’s success and growth rate so far confirms that.

“In the 2020 era, there’s a brand that caters to every kind of audience,” Petkavich said. “These species are different, but no one is making that distinction. I think it’s the psychology of the cat owner, the cat’s own medical needs, that has really opened up this blue ocean.”