Creature Companion - Interzoo Special September 2019 | Page 32

Industry Insight
PET STARTUPS
IN INDIA
PART-1
By Priyanka Tanwar *
part of the family. We help our clients with
all the paperwork and reservations when it
comes to pet relocation.” (Source: Economic
Times)
Th e Indian pet market is valued at INR 1300
crore and growing at a CAGR of 14 percent.
Th is enlarging market is overfl owing with
unique opportunities that are waiting to
be tapped by young entrepreneurs like
Vinayak. Pet lovers are identifying the
gaps in the pet industry and coming up
with innovative solutions to turn their
passion into profession. Here are some pet-
related start-ups that are lapping up these
opportunities and bringing comfort and
convenience into the lives of pet owners.
E-portals
Th e e-portal segment is providing pet
owners the convenience to shop for their
favourite pet products and services from the
comfort of their homes. Th e urban lifestyle
and lack of time are two factors fuelling this
sector.
Necessity is the mother of invention. Th is
old adage certainly proved to be true in the
case of Anupama Vinayak who came up
with a pet transportation and relocation
service aft er experiencing diffi culties while
planning pet-friendly vacations with her
Labrador. She founded her business venture
‘Furry Flyers’ in 2009 with the intention
of assisting pet owners in the import and
export of their furry companions. Th e
company has fi ve ports in New Delhi,
Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru.
Vinayak opines, “Problems arise out of the
lack of clarity. Airlines don’t write down
the rules clearly, nor do railway authorities
make them known. Here, we have pitched
in to make pet travel stress free for our
customers.” She further adds, “Pets are a
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Chew Central: Piyush Verma and Vikram
Ramchand, the brains behind Chew
Central, aim to make global pet food,
toys and supplies accessible to Indian pet
owners. Customers can choose from more
than 3000 pet products according to the
breed of their pets.
Dogspot: Founded in 2007 by Rana Atheya,
Dogspot provides reliable information
about dogs, cats and other pets through its
specially designed services like Wagclub
and Wagpedia. It also partners with both
Indian and International pet products and
service providers. India's foremost online
portal has received funding from Vikas
Saxena (CEO, Nimbuzz), Vaibhav Gadodia,
Ronnie Screwvala and Tata, K Ganesh,
India Quotient and other angel investors.
Petsutra: Petsutra is a Gurugram-based
pet e-portal that was created to provide an
ecosystem for pets and pet parents in India.
Creature Companion | September 2019 • Vol. XII • Issue 9 • Noida
Th e venture has raised INR 95 lakh from
Michael Patrick Hickey, Mayank Sharma
and other angel investors. Founder Amol
Sharma shares, “PetSutra is an initiative to
educate and help people make the journey
of their pets worthwhile.” Petsutra also has
a mobile application that provides mating,
petcare, geo-tagging and photo sharing
services.
Retail Stores
Brick and mortar retail stores off er an
opportunity to end users to experience
products and services in a face-to-face
environment. Th e pet industry is exhibiting
an unprecedented phenomenon where
retail outlets are giving rise to e-portals and
vice versa.
Just Dogs: Founded by Ashish Anthony in
2011, Just Dogs Superstore and Spa is an
Ahmedabad based speciality retail chain
for pet products and services. Mr. Anthony
holds a certifi cation in pet retail enterprise
management from Police Dogs Centre,
Holland. Th e chain has more than 25 outlets