Startup Ideas: Dog Walking Apps & Pet Tech
Note: This Venturescale Trends report is part of the Startup Ideas & Trends Library, which covers topics such as 🤖AI SaaS, ✍️Creator Economy, 🔵Web3 Startups, and the 🚀Unbundling of the Internet.
The pet industry is a massive sector for business opportunities. Pet owners spent over $100 billion in 2021. Caring for pets is increasingly being humanized. “Furry consumers” now take supplements, wear smart devices, track sleep, and travel.
New waves of startups are capitalizing on this market need by developing new product strategies. We’re seeing the Uber for dog walking like Wag!; Warby Parker for dogs; Fitbit but for dogs like Fi dog collar; and HelloFresh for pets like Ollie.
In this analysis, we’ll focus on top startups that are disrupting the pet tech market–how they are differentiated, what unique problems they solve, how they create multiple revenue streams and untapped opportunities.
Top 11 Pet Tech Market Trends:
(1) Connected devices and wearables for pets are becoming popular:
- Companies are investing in hardware and developing biometrics devices to help pet owners understand pets’ health and ensure safety.
- Fi Smart Dog Collar tracks your dog’s location, activity level, and sleep quality.
- Japan’s Catlog is a smart collar for cats that captures weight, excretion, water, activity, sleep, and grooming.
- Inovoxia’s dog collar tracks heart rate, respiratory score, and sleep.
- Inupathy tracks heart rate and analyzes the psychological and mental conditions of dogs.
(2) Pet foods are reaching human standards:
- Startups are going after the concept of “HelloFresh for pets”, veterinarian-designed formula, nutrient-dense, allergy-friendly, and plant-based foods to satisfy consumers’ demand for higher quality pet foods.
- The Farmer’s Dog’s recipes are made with real meat & veggies, freshly cooked and conveniently delivered.
- Shark Tank-featured Wild Earth is creating plant-based protein dog foods.
- Smalls offers human-grade, high-protein, and healthy cat foods.
(3) Millennials love fur kids:
- Consumers are adopting pets during the pandemic due to isolation and the need for companionship. A survey showed pet ownership grew by 13% (Gen X), 24% (Millennials), 26% (Gen Z), and 5% (Baby Boomers) in the U.S.
- YPulse’s study showed that 76% of millennials are pet parents.
- As more millennials delay marriage, many are spending more on pets. Top spending category, ranked: Toys (51%), food treats (49%), grooming items (34%), high-end food (30%), new bed (24%), supplements (19%).
more…
(🔒 Full version) +8 more key trends, backed by real company examples:
🔑 (4/11) What kinds of startups and business models are creating winners in the pet tech space? (3 company examples)
🔑 (5/11) What are the online shopping trends in the pet industry? (3 important insights)
🔑 (6/11) Which segment is becoming the HOT SPOT for pet tech startups? (4 company examples)
🔑 (7/11) How do key market players break into the pet tech market? (3 company examples)
🔑 (8/11) Why anti-aging for pets is on the rise? Which companies (2 examples) are riding on this wave?
🔑 (9/11) Pet tech in emerging markets and what you should know (3 company examples)
🔑 (10/11) Pet owners are prioritizing the well-being of their pets — and what market trends have emerged from this consumer behavior shift? (3 product examples)
🔑 (11/11) Who’s entering the “luxury pet market” and what products are they offering? (3 company examples)
🔥 Unlock the full-report & databases :::
2. Total 104 Market Players & Databases:
Find similar competitors and explore ways to differentiate new solutions:
- 🏢 Total 104 company examples across the pet tech space
- 🔖 Total 8 market segments
- 🗃 Company databases: value proposition, website, stage, total funding raised, year founded, company size, and location.
- 👌 Filter competitors by categories. Or search by product name, country, funding stage, etc.
(Members-only access)
3. What Problems Do They Solve?
(1) Reduce vet costs:
- In the U.S., it costs $150 to $7,000 for dog surgery and $200-$500/year for routine pet care. Almost half of the pet owners would turn to credit cards for unexpected medical expenses.
- Pet insurtech exists to lower the healthcare costs of pets through insurance coverage.
- Wagmo provides emergency vet coverage (e.g. illness, injuries, chronic health and telemedicine), mobile claim submission and processes insurance claims within 2 weeks.
- Figo offers 15+ comprehensive coverage, 24/7 live vet support, fast claim within 3 business days, and mobile-first experience.
- Petplan offers a self-service portal to help pet owners manage claims and payments online.
(🔒 Full version) +4 more well-defined market needs. These insights will help you capture specific customer needs:
🔑 (2/5) How to solve the supply issues in the pet industry? (3 company examples)
🔑 (3/5) How to provide convenience for pet parents? (3 company examples)
🔑 (4/5) This pain point is the biggest driver for direct-to-consumer pet retailers. How to capture this market need? (3 company examples)
🔑 (5/5) How to address niche markets in pet health? (2 company examples)
4. Business Models & Revenue Streams
(1) Content productization:
- Most connected smart devices don’t just sell hardware. They bundle hardware and software in their offerings, and provide helpful information for pet owners. E.g. Whistle sells content in the form of activity stats, pet health insights and weekly reports. Litter-Robot, a self-cleaning cat litter box provides smart monitoring, cat excretion behaviors, and health tracking in the app.
- You can also sell educational content to pet parents. E.g. GoodPup charges $27/week to access personalized dog training content & 1:1 training sessions with dog trainers. Dogo Premium costs $23.99/year, including unlimited tricks, video content and visual instructions.
(🔒 Full version)
- Unlock 4 more monetization and revenue models in the pet industry
5. What are the next big things?
(1) DTC brands will see a new category of pet goods:
- There are a host of D2C brands that create new products for dogs and cats to live like humans. Adoption for pet travel accessories, organic pet food, and meal delivery is already happening.
- As pets are increasingly being “humanized”, more demand for pet products that enhance the quality of life and raise the pets’ identity will become more popular.
- Potential new product categories: (1) Smart bed for dogs that self-adjust based on sleep movement, (2) Connected massage tool for pets, (3) Exercise tool for pets that improves mobility & joint health.
(2) Food tech and pet tech will come together:
- Eco-friendly pet foods are getting a sales boost of 57% in the UK. 83% of millennials prioritize sustainability when it comes to pet food purchases.
- These trends validated that consumers are increasingly caring about the impact and will continue to adopt sustainable pet foods in the future.
- Startups could tap into alternative pet proteins, bioengineered foods, and upcycling technology to add value to food waste and enhance nutrition.
- For example, create insect proteins for pets (Yora), manufacture meat using microbes and fermentation process (Calysta), and plant-based seafood like Finless Food but for pets.
more…
(🔒 Full version) +7 more untapped market opportunities:
🔑 (3/9) How to build the future of pet insurtech? (2 use cases)
🔑 (4/9) How these 2 companies are breaking into Fintech for the pet industry? (and 2 more untapped use cases)
🔑 (5/9) Content economy opportunities in the pet industry. (2 examples)
🔑 (6/9) Web3 communities in the pet industry (2 examples)
🔑 (7/9) Pet parenthood is a big generational shift. How big organizations can bet on this trend? (3 examples)
🔑 (8/9) How to capture this sub-sector that generates $600+ million in revenue? (3 product examples)
🔑 (9/9) What does new veterinarian solutions will look like in the future? (3 company examples, 3 use cases)
🔥 Unlock the full-report & databases :::
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