In a dog-eat-dog deal, Seattle-based dog-care services marketplace Rover.com is acquiring its largest competitor, DogVacay, the companies announced Wednesday.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The combined company will be headquartered in Seattle and maintain the Rover brand. Aaron Easterly, CEO of Rover, will continue in that role while DogVacay CEO Aaron Hirschhorn will join Rover’s board of directors.
Rover raised a $40 million funding round last fall, bringing total investment in the company to $91.5 million. It was founded in 2011 by Greg Gottesman, a venture capital investor with Madrona Venture Group.
DogVacay, based in Santa Monica, CA, had raised $47 million from investors including OMERS Ventures, Foundation Capital, and Benchmark. Rover is backed by Foundry Group, Menlo Ventures, and Madrona.
Dog owners booked more than $150 million of pet-sitting and dog-walking via their services last year, the companies said in a news release. Rover said it was on pace to handle $100 million in billings in 2016. It takes about a fifth of each transaction booked through its marketplace, and also provides services such as insurance.
Easterly said in a news release that the combination “will enable us to pick up engineering velocity, bring new products to market faster and invest even more aggressively in building the best tools for our sitters and dog walkers.”
