India’s 1st pet care super app Wagr has raised INR 4.2Cr in a funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures and participation from IvyCap Ventures. The round also saw participation from Stanford Angels and Ashish Sharma (MD, Innoven Capital). The funds will be used to expand the pet products available on their e-commerce platform and scale the scope of vet consultations and healthcare offerings for furry friends across India. The company will also be expanding their team and scaling up their customer acquisition efforts.
With the aim to provide everything a pet parent needs in a digital, personalised manner, Wagr offers several products and services such as veterinary video consultations within 15 minutes, an e-commerce store for pet products like food, treats, grooming and accessories, a pet care guide, a pet parent community, and a location & fitness tracker for dogs. In addition to launching the smart pet care platform, Wagr has also previously launched India’s 1st dog GPS & fitness tracker for which they won multiple awards. Wagr can be used through their mobile apps and website www.wagr.ai where they provide a comprehensive platform with most key needs of a pet parent met in one place (pet products e-commerce, veterinary telehealth, content and community). As of date, they have 15,000+ users and have completed 3,500+ vet tele-consultations.
Ankur Mittal, Co-Founder, Inflection Point Ventures says, “Over the years, especially post 2020, there has been a significant rise in pet parents across the country. For Pet Parents, the pets are like family members and hence the growth in this space is expected to mirror the exponential growth we have seen in the Mother & Child space. Wagr has anchored all the pet needs on its platform which is resulting in high stickiness of the pet parents as visible through and large number of returning customers. We see this market to continue its growth momentum, added with the D2C push in the segment.”
Vikram Gupta, Founder and Managing Partner, IvyCap Ventures Advisors Pvt Ltd, says, “We believe that Wagr is a perfect platform for solving all the requirements of pet parents. The credibility of the services ensures that there is an increase in the number of returning customers. Wagr has a strong team and the business model is addressing all the pinpoints. Hence, we will strongly support the team at Wagr.”
Wagr has logged over 10,000+ downloads and is known for their high quality of care and support with a 4.9/5 rating from over 300 users and a 90+ Net Promoter Score. They are also among the winners of the Qualcomm Design in India program. They have represented India at the 1st ever India Tech Park at the Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas in 2020 and were also the only Indian start-up on Nestle Purina’s (world’s #2 pet care company) global pet care start-up opportunity map.
Siddharth Darbha, Co-Founder, Wagr shares, “My cofounder, Advaith, and I believe that selflessly caring for others brings out the very best in our nature. And when we make the decision to be a good pet parent, we are deciding to be a truly good human being. But we know that the journey is not so easy. It can be as tough and as rewarding as raising a child. We at Wagr want you to be the best possible pet parent you can be, and help you keep your pet safe, fit, healthy, and happy. Keeping that as our goal, we are building a pet care platform that personalises products and services based on your pet’s unique characteristics and behaviours. The pet industry has been growing rapidly for over a decade, but the pandemic has brought it to the forefront. We intend to lead the way in digitising the industry and making easy, affordable and fulfilling pet care products and services available to all pet parents in India.”
Wagr’s hero product is a tech enabled location and fitness tracker, which helps pet parents track their pet’s whereabouts, alerts them if lost and monitors their activity levels and daily walks. This is important information specially if your pet is going with a professional walker for his daily walks. The company also provides other services like pet club, pet care guide and more. This unique feature will ensure good health of their pet thus keeping the entire family fitter and happy.
The total addressable market for pet product and services is estimated to be about $1.2bn in India growing at CAGR 28%, with the majority of it coming from pet products sales. India has an estimated number of 30-35mn pets.
