Helping bring veterinary clinics into the 21st century, London's PetsApp raises $4.4 million

When the pandemic first set in and we were all suddenly hit (forced?) with the realisation that we were about to be spending a lot more time at home (or as I saw Pat Phelan so aptly put it - live at the office), that dream of adding a dogo or pew pew kitty to that office became a reality to many. Approximately 12.6 million many U.S. households, for example.

Having received a £500,000 pre-seed investment from Berlin’s Global Founders Capital and realising that neither a pandemic nor pet problems were going to go away anytime soon, veterinarian and former COO of clinic groups in Asia and the UK, Thom Jenkins, along with co-founder Will Monk pulled the trigger and officially and launched their PetsApp platform in January of 2020. Today, the company announces a $4.4 million seed funding round led by Point Nine Capital.

Akin to the bevy of human-focused doctor/patient management apps we’ve seen bloom over the past 2 years, PetsApp is much the same, but aimed at our furry friends. The app streamlines communication, payments, appointment bookings for vets, freeing up valuable, and in some cases, life-saving time and resources.

With 92% of all pet problems remaining unaddressed by a vet, the software allows pet owners to get their friends the care they need with the conveniences of bookings, communications, payments, and insurance options.

“In one example, a nurse messaged the owner to say their dog had recovered well and was about to feed him. When the client replied, ‘he loves chicken’, the nurse was able to send a photo of herself hand-feeding the dog some chicken - avoiding the usual games of phone-tag, bonding the client to the clinic, and giving the nurse incredible job satisfaction,” commented Jenkins.

To date, PetsApp has helped over 200,000 pets, with over 650,000+ virtual care interactions, processed over $5 million in veterinary clinic payments, and achieved a 4.9/5 rating in the App Store, making it the top veterinary app in the U.K. and Ireland.

“We wanted to help clinic owners and operators grow their business, as well as make care more convenient for pet owners. But what about the veterinary teams? What if they just saw this as one more thing to do? One more reason to miss lunch. One more reason to be home late. We wanted to build something that would alleviate veterinary burnout, not add to it,” explains Jenkins.

In addition to Point Nine’s lead, additional investment capital was provided by Adjacent, GFC, Market One Capital, and angel investors including Todd & Rahul’s Angel Fund (Superhuman CEO Rahul Vohra and Eventjoy founder Todd Goldberg), Carlos Gonzales Cadenas (Index), Matt Robinson (founder and CEO of Nested) and Ronen Givon (founder and CEO of Rekki).

“There’s no one pet owners trust more with their pet’s health than their vet. With PetsApp, vet clinics build closer relationships with owners while doing their jobs more effectively,” said Point Nine’s Ricardo Sequerra Amram. “Backing Thom and Will with their unique level of sector insight combined with consumers’ increased expectations to interact digitally makes PetsApp an incredible opportunity to transform an entire market.”