Airbnb for pets, a $70 million business
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2025 6:50 am
In 2010, Aaron Hirschhorn went on vacation, leaving his dog Rocky at a kennel in Los Angeles. When he returned, the animal was severely traumatized. And as anyone who has animals knows, finding a place to leave their pets while you’re away that’s also comfortable is a real pain. Hirschhorn saw an unmet need and started his Airbnb for dogs, now a $70 million business.
This is 2010. The sharing economy was still in its infancy—people didn’t understand the concept—but Hirschhorn recognized it as a huge opportunity. In March 2012, he launched DogVacay , a platform that connects dog owners with pet sitters. He started in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The project was undoubtedly a tremendous success. In one year, it generated revenues of around 35,000 dollars . Today, the figure reaches more than 70 million dollars a year.
How does the business work?
With DagVacay, the cost of leaving your pet is around $30 per night, although prices vary, and the platform takes 20% of the fee. A cost generally lower than kennels, which range in price from $25 to $5 per night, depending on their location.
In addition to dogs, DogVacay also offers indonesia number data pet sitting services for cats and other less common animals such as hamsters, ferrets and even chickens.
According to their website, they have a database of more than 40,000 pet sitters in the two countries where they offer their service, the United States and Canada. They offer full customer service, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, and daily photos so that owners can see their pets and leave them with complete peace of mind.
It is a simple business model, but one with extraordinary needs. To achieve this, they now have more than 100 employees. Many of them are engineers who are in charge of perfecting the platform. For example, the owner of a dog that suffers from separation anxiety can locate a dog sitter who is specialized in this disorder and who is available for the dates that he needs.
They also carry out a thorough investigation process to verify that the caregivers meet a series of conditions. But misfortunes can always happen. That is why DogVacay offers pet insurance that covers up to $25,000 for any type of accident or injury to an animal during the stay.
Pet care, an industry with a future
Aaron Hirschhorn and others, such as the Spanish Loly Garrido who also opened a platform for dog care in 2012 ( Gudog ) suffered first-hand the lack of this type of service. They saw an unmet need, created the solution and succeeded.
The pet industry, which focuses on products and services for animals that are part of a family, generated 2.2 billion euros in 2014 in Spain alone, according to an article published in El País . According to the data, 50% of Spanish households have pets : a total of 20 million pets, with dogs (5.4 million) and cats (3.8 million) predominating.
However, despite these figures, the expenditure they generate is barely a third of the French, German or British market, so we have a growing market .
The rise of pet investment
Investors agree. There is an upward trend in global pet markets, especially in the US and Europe. Young people are having children at an older age and there are already more dogs than children in the US, according to an investment partner at DogVacay. So unless this trend reverses, which is unlikely, it is a structural fact of our society and not just a fad.
This is 2010. The sharing economy was still in its infancy—people didn’t understand the concept—but Hirschhorn recognized it as a huge opportunity. In March 2012, he launched DogVacay , a platform that connects dog owners with pet sitters. He started in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The project was undoubtedly a tremendous success. In one year, it generated revenues of around 35,000 dollars . Today, the figure reaches more than 70 million dollars a year.
How does the business work?
With DagVacay, the cost of leaving your pet is around $30 per night, although prices vary, and the platform takes 20% of the fee. A cost generally lower than kennels, which range in price from $25 to $5 per night, depending on their location.
In addition to dogs, DogVacay also offers indonesia number data pet sitting services for cats and other less common animals such as hamsters, ferrets and even chickens.
According to their website, they have a database of more than 40,000 pet sitters in the two countries where they offer their service, the United States and Canada. They offer full customer service, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, and daily photos so that owners can see their pets and leave them with complete peace of mind.
It is a simple business model, but one with extraordinary needs. To achieve this, they now have more than 100 employees. Many of them are engineers who are in charge of perfecting the platform. For example, the owner of a dog that suffers from separation anxiety can locate a dog sitter who is specialized in this disorder and who is available for the dates that he needs.
They also carry out a thorough investigation process to verify that the caregivers meet a series of conditions. But misfortunes can always happen. That is why DogVacay offers pet insurance that covers up to $25,000 for any type of accident or injury to an animal during the stay.
Pet care, an industry with a future
Aaron Hirschhorn and others, such as the Spanish Loly Garrido who also opened a platform for dog care in 2012 ( Gudog ) suffered first-hand the lack of this type of service. They saw an unmet need, created the solution and succeeded.
The pet industry, which focuses on products and services for animals that are part of a family, generated 2.2 billion euros in 2014 in Spain alone, according to an article published in El País . According to the data, 50% of Spanish households have pets : a total of 20 million pets, with dogs (5.4 million) and cats (3.8 million) predominating.
However, despite these figures, the expenditure they generate is barely a third of the French, German or British market, so we have a growing market .
The rise of pet investment
Investors agree. There is an upward trend in global pet markets, especially in the US and Europe. Young people are having children at an older age and there are already more dogs than children in the US, according to an investment partner at DogVacay. So unless this trend reverses, which is unlikely, it is a structural fact of our society and not just a fad.