Growing pet-sitter business Rover.com is getting bigger everyday, and will likely continue to do so for the near future as the startup just announced it raised another $65 million in venture capital.
Founded in 2011 and based in Seattle, Rover has conducted several fundraising rounds since then. But the last year has proven to be the most fruitful for the company. Rover received $40 million in investments last October, and with $65 million this month, Rover is sitting on a total of approximately $105 million raised in less than a year.
Led by Spark Capital, new investors in this latest round include Bespoke Strategies and StepStone Group. Existing shareholders include Madrona Venture Group, Menlo Ventures, Foundry Group, OMERS Ventures, and Technology Crossover Ventures.
Megan Quinn, a general partner at Spark Capital, will also join Rover’s board of directors.
“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 Quinn in Thursday’s announcement. “What is particularly unique about Rover is the deep well of vetted, reviewed caretakers they’ve cultivated over time that they can continue to leverage to offer additional services and enter new markets.”
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Rover, which touts itself as the largest network of pet sitters and dog walkers nationwide, says it will use the money for international expansion, new services for sitters and owners, and marketing efforts.
The pet tech company has grown rapidly in recent months partially thanks to its acquisition in March of DogVacay, a similar online service advertising to connect pet owners with on-demand pet sitters and dog walkers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the merger did result in the cut of 22 jobs out of DogVacay’s offices in Santa Monica, Calif.
With the rest of DogVacay’s resources now in the fold, Rover expects a 200% increase in net revenue in 2017 as it now tops more than 140,000 sitters across North America, seeing bookings for various services at a rate of one every four seconds.