DogVacay, the US peer-to-peer marketplace for home dog boarding and pet services, today revealed that it had closed its Series-A financing with a $6 million investment from Benchmark Capital.
Bill Gurley, general partner at Benchmark, is joining the startup's board of directors.
Since its March launch, DogVacay claims it has rapidly expanded to become the largest US company connecting pet owners with experienced sitters in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco as well as in selected spots in Canada.
The company vets the hosts in a rudimentary way and offers insurance covering the dog for up to $25,000 in case of an emergency.
Its main competitors are Spotwag (which more aggressively uses Facebook) and Rover, which landed $3.4 million in funding in April.
Bow wow
At DogVacay, sitters set their own rates, and the company takes a 15% commission. A night's stay typically costs $25. The company says it has paid out $1 million to hosts so far, and claims 60% month-over-month revenue growth.
DogVacay's cofounders, couple Karine Nissim Hirschhorn and Aaron Hirschhorn, plan to expand into mobile, and add services like dog walking, training and pet daycare.
NB:
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.