Rover Raises ₹ 418 Crore For Pet Sitting And Dog-Walking Service

Rovers, the largest pet services marketplace in the world, recently raised Rs 418 crore to expand its pet sitting and dog- walking businesses.

The idea behind Rover is finding temporary housing for your dog, as easy as renting an Airbnb. The Seattle-based company got a significant vote of confidence from Spark Capital, and additional capital from existing investors including Menlo Ventures, Foundry Group, and Technology Crossover Ventures.

Megan Quinn, a partner at Spark, is also joining the board.

Dog boarding is a “massively untapped market” said Quinn.

Rover bought DogVacay

Earlier this year, Rover  bought out DogVacay which was turning out to be their biggest competitor. Both the businesses have integrated their sites due to their similar look and styles. Rover CEO Aaron Easterly believes that the acquisition of DogVacay will them to expand internationally.

Rover plans to use funds for pet health and grooming

Although their business model is heavily dominated by dogs, they also allow cats and other caged animals as well. They plan to use the funding to expand pet health and grooming services and further their new dog walking business.

“Our walking business is growing phenomenally,” said Easterly, explaining he wasn’t concerned about taking on startup Wag.

According to the American Pet Products Association, pet spending has reached almost $67 billion in the U.S. last year.

Reference: Techcrunch

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