Homegrown pet care super-app Wagr has raised ₹4.2 crore in a funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures. IvyCap Ventures, Stanford Angels and Ashish Sharma (MD, Innoven Capital) also participated in the round.
The company will use the funds to expand the portfolio of pet products available on its e-commerce platform and scale up the scope of vet consultations and pet healthcare offerings. It will also expand its team and step up customer acquisition efforts.
Wagr offers a host of products and services such as veterinary video consultations within 15 minutes, an e-commerce store for pet products like food, treats, grooming needs and other accessories, a pet care guide, a pet parent community, and a location and fitness tracker for dogs.
Wagr can be used through its mobile app and website. As of date, it has over 15,000 users and facilitated more than 3,500 vet teleconsultations.
Siddharth Darbha, Co-Founder, Wagr, said, “We at Wagr want you to be the best possible pet parent you can be, and help you keep your pet safe, fit, healthy, and happy... we are building a pet care platform that personalises products and services based on your pet’s unique characteristics and behaviours. The pet industry has been growing rapidly for over a decade, but the pandemic has brought it to the forefront. We intend to lead the way in digitising the industry and making easy, affordable and fulfilling pet care products and services available to all pet parents in India.”
Ankur Mittal, Co-Founder, Inflection Point Ventures, said, “Over the years, especially post 2020, there has been a significant rise in pet parents across the country. For pet parents, the pets are like family members and hence the growth in this space is expected to mirror the exponential growth we have seen in the ‘mother and child’ space. Wagr has anchored all pet needs on its platform, which is resulting in high stickiness of pet parents, as visible through a large number of returning customers. We see this market continuing its growth momentum, added with the D2C [direct-to-customer] push in the segment.”
Vikram Gupta, Founder and Managing Partner, IvyCap Ventures Advisors Pvt Ltd, added, “We believe that Wagr is a perfect platform for solving all the requirements of pet parents. The credibility of the services ensures that there is an increase in the number of returning customers. Wagr has a strong team and the business model is addressing all the pinpoints. Hence, we will strongly support the team at Wagr.”
Wagr has logged over 10,000 downloads. The startup was also among the winners of the Qualcomm Design in India programme. It represented India at the first-ever India Tech Park at the Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas, in 2020.