{"id":337319,"date":"2017-04-01T03:37:33","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T19:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1470945"},"modified":"2017-04-01T03:37:33","modified_gmt":"2017-03-31T19:37:33","slug":"on-demand-dog-walking-startup-wag-quietly-raised-funding-from-general-catalyst-and-sherpa-ventures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/on-demand-dog-walking-startup-wag-quietly-raised-funding-from-general-catalyst-and-sherpa-ventures\/","title":{"rendered":"On-demand dog walking startup Wag quietly raised funding from General Catalyst and Sherpa Ventures"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Earlier this week\u00a0we wrote about how two big players in the pet care business, Rover and DogVacay, decided to merge<\/a>. Well sources tell us that over the past two years\u00a0Wag<\/a>, another player in the dog-walking space,\u00a0raised two rounds of funding to support expansion into new markets.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s easy to lump Wag, DogVacay and Rover\u00a0together, there are some key differences in the way they operate.\u00a0DogVacay and Rover operate on more of a marketplace model, where pet sitters or dog walkers connect directly with pet\u00a0owners prior to a pet\u00a0changing hands.<\/p>\n

In contrast,\u00a0Wag\u00a0offers\u00a0more of an on-demand experience where the company pre-screens walkers and sends whoever is available to walk a dog when a request comes in. As a result, Wag\u00a0operates more like Uber or Lyft than Airbnb, both in terms of its screening process for walkers and expansion into new markets.<\/p>\n

Even so, Wag\u00a0has been entering new markets at\u00a0a regular pace. The last time we wrote about Wag, just about two years ago, the company had just launched its on-demand dog-walking service in San Francisco<\/a>. Since then the company, which was founded in\u00a0Los Angeles, has added a number of other cities where users can request dog walkers. Wag walkers are available in places like Austin,\u00a0Boston, Chicago,\u00a0Denver,\u00a0Miami,\u00a0New York,\u00a0Orange County,\u00a0Portland,\u00a0San Diego, San Jose,\u00a0Seattle and Washington D.C.<\/p>\n

To support its\u00a0regional expansion, the company has raised a couple of rounds of funding that had previously gone unannounced. Over the past two years the company has raised a Series A round from General Catalyst and Series B round from Sherpa Ventures.<\/p>\n

Together those two rounds of funding added up to about $19 million, sources tell us, with GC leading a $4 million round in 2015 and Sherpa putting in $15 million last fall. That money\u00a0comes\u00a0on top of the $2.4 million in seed funding Wag\u00a0raised from investors that include Freestyle Capital, Crunchfund, Greylock, Ludlow Ventures, RRE Ventures, Slow Ventures, Social Leverage and Structure Capital.<\/p>\n

Representatives from Wag and General Catalyst declined to comment, while representatives from\u00a0Sherpa did not reply to our\u00a0request.<\/p>\n

Featured Image: benjgibbs\/Flickr<\/a> UNDER A CC BY 2.0<\/a> LICENSE<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"walking Earlier this week\u00a0we wrote about how two big players in the pet care business, Rover and DogVacay, decided to merge. Well sources tell us that over the past two years\u00a0Wag, another player in the dog-walking space,\u00a0raised two rounds of funding to support expansion into new markets. While it’s easy to lump Wag, DogVacay and Rover\u00a0together, there are some key differences in the way… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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