February 11, 2022

Hello Ralphie, Petgood & 6 Startups

🐶 Industry News

– Had a nice call recently with Felicity Johnson, founder of Hello Ralphie, a veterinary telehealth startup. In 2018, Felicity was a developer at Rent the Runway, when her cat was diagnosed with cancer. Finding it nearly impossible to schedule vet appointments around her busy schedule, she got the idea to create a tool that would allow vets to offer their services via chat and online video. (This was prior to Covid, before everything became remote.)  Felicity enrolled in an MBA program to turn her idea into a business and ended up winning the Wharton Entrepreneurship Startup Challenge in 2020.

While building her startup, initially called My Virtual Veterinarian, Felicity shadowed some vets and realized most were simply too busy to spend time interacting with patients online. So, Felicity pivoted and focused on two niches: 1) a B2C telehealth service marketed to pet parents and 2) a B2B solution for vet clinics needing weekend and after-hours assistance. Both services are provided through her pool of vets using custom software. The business model shift also led the startup to change its name to the more consumer-friendly Hello Ralphie.

The company has served more than 11,000 pets to date and Felicity believes the B2B service has more long-term potential than the B2C service. She is looking to connect with large vet groups that need help with their vet supply and can be reached at felicity@helloralphie.com.

– Leap Venture Studio, an accelerator program focused on pet startups, announced the six companies selected for its latest cohort:

• Bright Planet Pet (Minneapolis, MN) – plant-based dog treats
• Dog Child (Toronto, Canada) – home cooked pet meals
• Hound (Denver, CO) – veterinary recruitment
• Mella (Chicago, IL) – underarm pet thermometer
• PetHub (Wenatchee, WA) – smart pet ID tags
• Vetsie (Calgary, Canada) – veterinary telehealth platform

Each startup receives three months of advice and $200,000 in funding. Alumni of the program have gone on to raise over $119 million in additional capital and two have achieved successful exits (PetHospice and Lacuna Diagnostics).

– The smart folks at research firm Packaged Facts have released a new report on the US veterinary services market. I don’t have $4,500 to buy and actually read the report, but the summary indicates that the sector rose 9% to $35 billion in 2021.

💰 Financing & Deals

• Woof, a Brazilian startup that helps small retail pet shops offer same-day delivery, landed a $1.2 million investment round.

• PetGood, a Swedish startup that makes insect-based dog food, raised a $2.8 million Seed round. Founded in 2020, the company also ditched its original name of Funcifur.

🤷‍♂️ Somewhat Relevant

• What it’s like to make $100,000 walking dogs.

• The WSJ’s guide of upscale Valentine’s Day gifts for your pet.

• Musician Sia joined Bond Pet Foods, a Boulder-based startup that makes lab-grown pet protein, as an investor and advisor.

💼️ Pet Industry Jobs

• Loyal, a well-funded San Francisco biotech startup that hopes to extend the lives of dogs, is looking to fill three positions. All are either remote or based in San Fran:

• Frontend Engineer

• Product Designer

• Executive Assistant to the CEO/Founder (urgent!)