Rover.com

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Rover.com is an American company which operates an online marketplace for people to buy and sell pet care services including pet sitting, dog boarding, and dog walking.^[2] Rover.com was founded in 2011 in Seattle, Washington and is formally incorporated under the name A Place for Rover, Inc.^[3] The company serves as a broker and takes roughly 20% of each transaction booked through its site.^[4]

As of September 2016 Rover.com was valued at $300 million.^[5]

History[]

The concept for Rover.com was initially presented at the Startup Weekend contest in Seattle, Washington in June 2011, and was the contest's first-place winner.^[1] Greg Gottesman, a managing director at Madrona Venture Group, was among the team of software developers and designers who proposed the idea of an “online matchmaking service connecting pet owners in need of pet care with individuals who might want to take care of a canine companion for a few days.”^[3] Gottesman shared the idea with Aaron Easterly, a 15-year tech veteran with a focus on online marketplaces. Easterly became CEO and Gottesman became a board member.^[1] Rover.com first began connecting pet owners and sitters in Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, then expanded to all 50 states in 2012.^[3]

On March 29, 2017, Rover.com acquired DogVacay in an all-stock deal. At that time, it was reported that total bookings on the combined sites amounted to $150 million in 2016, of which they kept about 20% in commission fees.^[6]

On May 2, 2018 Rover.com announced expansion into Europe.^[7][8]

Rover.com has a panel of pet experts, including vets Dr. Gary Richter, Dr.Rebecca Greenstein, Dog expert and trainer Nicole Ellis, and cat expert Mikel Delgado that assist in giving pet advice and guidance.

Rover.com has been sued multiple times for deaths of pets resulting from negligent care provided by sitters, including the death of a Golden Retriever named Samantha in 2021.^{[citation needed]}

Along with the death of the Golden Retriever named Samantha in 2021, several other news articles have been written and group pages have been started to bring Rover.com’s accountability to light. An article written September 14, 2020, on ABC15 Arizona discusses a woman whose dogs went missing during a Rover visit and were missing for 3 months at the time.^[9] The sitter who had been watching the dogs was still accepting new clients and easily available on Rover.com while the pet owner was searching for her dogs. Rover.com only referred to themselves as an advertising company for independent contractors. Rover.com’s current Q&A Community page has a question posted by a woman whose dog, in the care of Rover.com sitter, escaped the yard the dog was left unattended in and was hit by a car and killed.^[10] The Rover.com user was left heartbroken and at a loss, asking for some sort of reimbursement and the sitter be removed. Rover.com’s comment back to her was to ask the user to reach out to Rover.com’s team to review the case. An article from 11ALIVE.com discusses a woman whose dog also escaped during a Rover.com boarding experience and was hit and killed by car.^[11] She has since started a petition asking for Rover.com to review their criteria for sitters and the safety of the pets. The petition, started after her dog died June 4^th, 2021, is currently above 5,300 signatures.

Financing[]

Rover.com's first round of investment funding was secured in April 2012, led by Madrona Venture Group.^[1] Additional capital was secured in February 2013, from The Foundry Group.^[1] In July 2013, Petco announced an investment in Rover and a business partnership for cross-promotion with Petco's stores and website.^[12]

In March 2014, it was announced that Rover.com had raised an additional $12 million in funding led by Menlo Ventures, with Madrona Venture Group, The Foundry Group, and Petco.^[3] One year later, in March 2015, it was announced that Rover.com raised a $25 million funding round led by Technology Crossover Ventures.^[13]

Rover.com received $40 million in investments in October 2016 and another $65 million in July 2017, led by Spark Capital.^[14]

In May 2018, Rover.com raised another $155 million funding.^[15]

Services[]

In 2011 Rover.com began by creating a marketplace for dog sitting and boarding services and over the next four years expanded to offer dog walking, doggy daycare, and drop-in visits. Every sitter on the platform is an independent contractor and is not an employee of Rover.com.^[5] In 2017 Rover.com began its Quick Match dog walking service, enabling owners to instantly book a dog walker. The service is no longer available^[16]

Rover.com takes a percentage of each booking made on its site.

References[]

External links[]

• Official website