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March 29, 2017
Charles Moldow
I’m very pleased to share the news that DogVacay will be joining forces with Rover. This fusion brings together the two pioneers of marketplace pet services to create one unbeatable industry leader. As we saw with the unions of Zillow to Trulia and Grubhub to Seamless, DogVacay’s international breadth and Rover’s domestic depth, combined, will create a new company that can better serve pet owners and caregivers. At $15 billion, with a shadow market of acquaintance care providers that’s likely even larger, the pet-care marketplace is massive—employing thousands of hosts, with millions of nights booked. Now it can be said that this space has an undisputed top dog, one with the potential to become a huge public company.
Here are more details of this exciting alliance:
SEATTLE & SANTA MONICA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Rover.com, the nation’s largest network of pet sitters and dog walkers, and DogVacay, a leading online and mobile pet-sitting community, today announce that they are joining forces.
Over the past five years, Rover and DogVacay have created an entirely new category, giving pet parents access to convenient, trusted, affordable pet care options, whether it’s in-home dog boarding, pet sitting or dog walking. Today the companies unite to advance their common mission—to make life better for dogs and the people who love them.
With this deal, the companies continue to transform the $15 billion pet care industry. By combining resources, pet parents will have access to the largest network of more than 100,000 5-star sitters, offering a range of services, in thousands of cities in every state across the U.S. and Canada. To date, millions of services have been booked through the companies, which generated over $150 million in bookings in 2016.
“Rover and DogVacay are both made up of dog people on a mission to enable everyone to experience the love and joy of a pet,” said Aaron Easterly, Rover’s CEO. “Together, we can accomplish our goals quicker and make an even bigger impact. Plus, this partnership will enable us to pick up engineering velocity, bring new products to market faster and invest even more aggressively in building the best tools for our sitters and dog walkers.”
The partnership gives dog owners nationwide the benefit of unprecedented coverage and choice in neighborhood pet care. It’s also an enormous opportunity for pet sitters and dog walkers who’ll benefit from the combined resources, insights, and educational tools of both brands. But most importantly, dogs will benefit from the individualized care they receive, and from both companies’ relentless focus on the well-being of pets nationwide.
“Growing DogVacay with my team over the past five years across the U.S. and Canada has been an incredible journey,” said Aaron Hirschhorn, DogVacay’s CEO. “Our goal has always been to make quality pet care accessible to everyone, and with Rover and DogVacay’s experience and expertise, we will continue to create the best solution for our host community, our pet parents and most importantly, our pets that we love as family.”
The combined companies expect to accelerate international expansion efforts. Rover’s headquarters will continue to be in Seattle and led by Easterly as CEO. Hirschhorn will join Rover’s Board of Directors.