DogVacay, the Airbnb for dogs, raises $25M

DogVacay, the winner of Vator Splash LA in 2012, has now raised $47 million

Growing up, I never had a dog. That's probably because I grew up in a single parent household, and my mother had enough trouble on her hands raising two kids, so forget taking care of a dog. So instead we had cats, which you probably know are, for the most part, extremely self-sufficient creatures. The only maintenance they require is food and a changed litter box.

Now that been around dogs, I see how much work they really are. They require a lot more attention han a cat, and, if you go on vacation, you need to have someone you can really trust to look after them. 

DogVacay, which is commonly referred to as the AirBnB for dogs, provides that solution and now it has announced that it has raised $25 million in funding. The round was led by OMERS Ventures, with participation from other investors that included GSV Capital, First Round Capital, Benchmark, Foundation Capital and DAG Ventures.

The company had previously raised $22 million in funding, most recently taking in a $15 million Series B round this past October. This round brings its total venture capital funding to $47 million. Other investors in the company include Sherpa Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.

DogVacay, the winner of the 2012 Vator Splash LA competition. The company is basically an AirBnB for dogs, where dog owners who need to skip town for a couple of days can browse hosts on DogVacay.com to find the ideal home away from home for their pets.

Founded in 2012, the Santa Monica-based DogVacay allows dog owners who need to skip town for a couple of days to find the ideal home away from home for their pets. While the rates on DogVacay start at $25 a night, the hosts are then allowed to set their own rates at high as $100 per night. Payments are sent through PayPal and no direct payments are allowed, as they must go through DogVacay.com for the transaction to be covered by its insurance policy. 

The company recently passed one million nights booked and it now has more than 20,000 vetted and insured pet sitters across North America.

"With this funding, the company will continue to scale towards its overall mission to build the country’s leading pet care provider. Although we were not actively fundraising, we were approached by OMERS Ventures and found in them a partner that shares this vision with us and our current investors (who also contributed to this round), so for us, it was a decision about securing a great partner for the future," Aaron Hirschhorn, founder and CEO of  DogVacay, told VatorNews.

The round will be used grow out the DogVacay team.  It currently has 70 employees and will expand all departments with this funding, including Product, Engineering, Marketing, Finance and Customer Care, which makes up more than 50% of the company.

"We also have some exciting updates and new services coming down the pipeline for our community of dog lovers that we’re looking forward to sharing in the coming months, such as expanding our line of services," said Hirschhorn.