INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Rover, a dog-walking and dog-boarding service that merged with DogVacay around this time last year, is now the second of such startups
this year to raise a massive new round of funding with its announcement of a $155 million financing round.
While competitor Wag has become
a juggernaut, there seems room for both room for a second player and the potential to outmaneuver Wag even with its massive influx of
Both DogVacay and Rover had a very similar model and eventually merged in an all-stock deal, creating a more substantial competitor for Wag
The round consisted of $125 million in equity financingled by funds and accounts advised by T
Rowe Price Associates, with a $30 million credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the round values Rover at $970 million.
Wag earlier this year picked up $300 million in a massive
funding round led by SoftBank
That was, of course, SoftBank — which is investing massive piles of capital into startups and pretty much altering the calculus of venture
But it also signaled a huge interest in various dog-care services, including apparently Rover, as a potential business opportunity for the
millions of dog owners in the world
If you&ll walk anywhere in San Francisco, you&re destined to run into a very large number of very good dogs, and it makes enough sense that
there should be an opportunity to capitalize on dog-ownership as a whole.
Rover connects dog owners with various users that will walk,
board, or generally take care of dogs — a critical service for anyone who might be traveling, or just work in a non-dog friendly office
Users just book a dog walker or sitter through the app, which connects them with area sitters
It an area where Wag has faced a lot of criticism following a major Bloomberg report regarding poor service (and losing dogs)
There are, of course, many challenges for any service that offloads some kind of daily need to a third party starting in a similar fashion
to Uber.
Rover, interestingly, notes on its website that it &accepts less than 20% of potential sitters,& perhaps a dig at the criticism for
Wag or the space in general and as an attempt to soothe concerns from potential users
Rover says it has more than 200,000 sitters throughout North America
The company previously raised $156 million, and previous investors includeA-Grade Investments, Foundry Group, Madrona Venture Group, Menlo
Ventures, OMERS Ventures, Petco, and StepStone Group.
