A Brighton-based PetTech is planning to expand around the United States with its first round of funding.
TrustedHousesitters, billed as the world’s largest pet-sitting network, has been backed with £7.3 million from Rockpool Investments.
The startup is already seeing revenue at twice pre-pandemic levels after COVID-19 saw a huge increase in global demand for pets.
3.2m UK homes acquired a pet over lockdown, according to the Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association annual pet population report, bringing the total number of UK pets to 34m. In the US this has translated to an historic high of $8bn spent on pet services, including animal-sitting.
TrustedHousesitters enables a value exchange between pet owners and pet sitters – for £99 per year, owners have access to unlimited pet-sitting by its network. It has seen over 30,000 new owner and sitter members since the start of 2021.
Founded in 2010, the firm has now facilitated more than four million nights of pet sitting across 130 countries.
“We are excited to grow our membership base in the United States and across the world and assure new and existing pet owners that they can travel without worry by knowing a verified sitter is caring for their animals as if they were their own,” explained Mathew Prior, CEO.
“Our sitters provide genuine one-to-one love and care in the comfort of the pets’ home, so owners don’t have to worry about making their beloved pets feel anxious about being separated from their own familiar and safe environment.”
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Guy Ellis, investment director at Rockpool, added: “There is no better time than now to invest in a business with such huge growth potential as TrustedHousesitters.
“To see a British company taking the initiative, allowing pet owners to travel with confidence as the world opens up once more, is just the sort of good-news story that everyone needs at the moment.”
In 2020, TrustedHousesitters was selected to participate in the Upscale programme run by Tech Nation.