Santa Monica-based DogVacay, which is being called the Airbnb for dogs, has received a significant boost as it’s raised $25 million in funding (Series B1 round), led by OMERS Ventures. This now brings the total investment into DogVacay to $47 million. GSV Capital, Science Inc., First Round Capital, Benchmark, Foundation Capital, and DAG Ventures also participated in the funding.
DogVacay started in 2012 and helps you “find a loving dog sitter” and is available in 3,000 cities and has a database of over 20,000 dog-sitters. The company operates in both the United States and Canada and recently passed 1 million nights booked in October. The additional funds will be used to expand its operation internationally, and possibly into boarding, day care, walking ,training and grooming services.
This is OMERS first investment in a United States business. Damien Steel, a director at Omers, said “We have offices all around the world, we are a large, large organization, and we’re in a unique position to leverage that. I’m looking forward to helping them break into Europe and other markets.”