With long days at the office and hour long commutes, who has time to walk the dog? Startups in the pet tech space are helping dog owners take care of their little friends while at work through on-demand booking platforms for dog walking.
Now London-based HouseMyDog, an online platform that enables dog owners to find and book local, trusted dog walkers and sitters, has merged with Madrid-based Gudog, its main European competitor – making it the largest platform of dog walkers in Europe.
“We’ve had a close relationship with the Gudog team since we met in 2016. We admire what they have achieved and their passion for the community they have built,” said James McElroy, co-founder of HouseMyDog. “While today’s announcement makes strategic sense in combining our market share to accelerate our growth, we are also delighted to be working with a team that shares the same values and vision for the future of pet services in Europe.”
With the merger, the platform now features over 25k approved dog sitters and walkers in more than 70 cities across eight European countries, including the UK, Ireland, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Belgium.
HouseMyDog was founded in 2015, with offices in London, Dublin and Berlin, by brothers Timothy and James McElroy after they had difficulty finding a reliable dog sitter and walker for their family dog, Holly.
Gudog was founded by Loly Garrido and Javier Cuevas when they also saw the need for a trusted platform for dog owners to find pet care. The company is the market leader in Spain and is growing rapidly in France and Germany. The pair will assume the roles of CPO and CTO, respectively.
“We are delighted to combine the HouseMyDog and Gudog teams,” said Garido. “The merger is a natural step as both companies operate a similar model and the experience and skillset of the teams strongly complement each other. This merger is a big step forward in creating Europe’s most trusted pet services platform.”
HouseMyDog and Gudog will continue to operate under their existing brands and will roll into a single brand in early 2019. With a current headcount of 21, the merged company expects to more than double revenue in 2019 and plans to grow the team to 35 to drive this European growth.
