Toronto-based pet tech startup Vetster has secured $37.8 million CAD ($30 million USD) in what it said was an oversubscribed Series B round.
The investment was led by Kensington Capital Partners, as well as existing investors Whitecap Venture Partners and Brightspark Ventures. PetMed Express also participated in the round, committing $5 million to Vetster along with a strategic partnership.
Canada is seeing more tech companies such as Vetster raise funding following a high number of animal adoptions throughout the pandemic.
As Forbes reported, PetMeds’ collaboration with Vetster will give the latter access to the 2 million customers and 70,000 vets who use PetMeds. The partnership will also give PetMeds the ability to offer telehealth visits to its users.
Headquartered in Toronto and operating across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, Vetster’s CEO Mark Bordo said the fresh injection of capital and its work with PetMeds will help in the expansion plans of the company.
Launched in November 2020, Vetster’s online platform connects pet owners with veterinary professions over video, text, or audio chat. Pet owners can select care services based on their pet species, medical needs, budget, and schedule.
Canada is seeing more tech companies such as Vetster raise funding following a high number of animal adoptions throughout the pandemic. As telehealth technologies for people emerge, so does pet care.
A survey of 2000 Canadians conducted by Narrative Research on behalf of Pet Valu saw that one third of Canadian pet owners adopted a new animal into their household since the pandemic began around March 2020. This represents an estimated three million pets that were adopted over the course of years.
RELATED: Today in funding: CubicFarms, Vetster, Metaspectral
Vetster previously raised $12.25 million CAD in Series A funding, which saw the participation of Whitecap Venture Partners, as well as angel investor and Wealthsimple CEO Michael Katchen.
Vetster isn’t the only Canadian company that operates in the ‘telehealth for pets space’ however. Calgary-based Vetsie, which offers a communications platform for veterinarians, closed a $285,000 pre-seed round in June 2021. Another startup is Toronto-based Pawzy, which provides a platform that connects pet owners with health and educational resources.
Featured image from Werzk Luuuuuuu via Unsplash