Continuing the slew of investments, he has made in various startups globally, the top industrialist Ratan Tata, has invested in a pet care portal, DogSpot.in. However, the value of the investment was not disclosed.
Announcing the same, DogSpot.in co-founder and CEO, Rana Atheya said, “Ratan Tata has invested an undisclosed amount in DogSpot.in. Ronnie Screwala also invested in this round along with a few new and existing investors.”
Along with Ratan Tata, other biggies, who invested in the portal are, Ashok Mittal, Rishi Parti, Dheeraj Jain and Abhijeet Pai.
Atheya further said, “The investment by Mr Tata is an endorsement of the long held belief by us and our investors that the Indian pet care sector is going through a phase of huge growth and transformation. DogSpot.in is poised to become an agent of this transformation.”
Even in the past, Ratan Tata has been aggressively invested in the several startups, like Snapdeal, Kaaryah, Urban Ladder, Bluestone, CarDekho, Sabse Technologies, Xiaomi and Ola.
The chairman emeritus of Tata sons, Ratan Tata, who was on the seat for more than two decades and retired in 2012, is also associated with some venture capital funds as advisor, including Kalaari Capital and Jungle Ventures.
Earlier, Aloke Bajpai (Founder, ixigo.com), Vikas Saxena (CEO, Nimbuzz) few others, followed by another round in 2013 by India Quotient (Rs 1 crore), invested in Dogspot.in In 2014, Unilazer (Ronnie Screwvala), India Quotient (Anand Lunia) and K Ganesh (Growth Story) invested on the portal.
DogSpot.in was advised by Dexter Capital Advisors on the current deal.
“The funds raised will be deployed towards offering new range of products under the existing brand. Indian pet care market doesn’t have too many products and brands catering to the fast growth segment,” Atheya said.
In 2014, the global pet care market has breached the USD 100 billion mark, in which the US alone contributed USD 58.04 billion. With over 4 million dogs, the Indian pet care market is pegged at over USD 1.22 billion, with an annual growth rate of over 35 per cent.
“The exponential rise of pet ownership in cities like Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Bengaluru, the Indian pet care industry is the fastest growing pet care industry globally. One estimate pegs the growth rate to be 30 per cent year-on-year,” Atheya said.
“To cater to these pet owners/lovers, our business needs to scale up in every aspect to be able to match up to their requirements. To achieve the desired growth, we have to be operationally more efficient and our products have to be global in nature and therefore this funding is a crucial milestone for DogSpot.in,” he said.
Atheya further added that, the company is focusing on selling the products under its own brand and aims to triple the current GMV in one year.
By Phani Ch
