Rover Raises $65 Million to Take Pet Sitting Platform Worldwide
Rover.com, a network of pet sitters and dog walkers, announced today that is has raised $65 million.
The round of funding was led by Spark Capital and includes new investors Bespoke Strategies and StepStone Group. Existing shareholders Madrona Venture Group, Menlo Ventures, Foundry Group, OMERS Ventures and Technology Crossover Ventures also participated.
Rover says it will use the fresh capital primarily for international expansion, as well as to launch new services and tools for sitters and owners.
“The Rover platform has taken what was once a highly fragmented, distributed network of pet sitters and dog walkers and made arranging care an easy and secure experience,” said Megan Quinn, General Partner at Spark Capital.
Quinn will join Rover’s Board of Directors.
Rover says it expects a 200% increase in net revenue in 2017. The company’s network of sitters has grown 100% year-over-year, now topping 140,000 throughout North America. Rover is currently booking one service every four seconds on average, the company says.
“We find that people are increasingly looking for quality, technology-enabled services to make their lives easier and more enjoyable, and Rover is leading this movement for the pet care industry,” said Aaron Easterly, CEO of Rover. “Our global expansion will give people around the world the ability to know the love and joy of owning a pet.”
Rover recently acquired DogVacay. Following the acquisition, the company has been testing its platform in Canada and currently has thousands of pet sitters available in the region.
