BUSINESS - Mars Petcare Purchases Whistle

Whistle, a company that makes smart dog collars that track a pet’s location as well as activity, has been purchased by Mars Petcare.

“Whistle is excited to join the Mars Petcare family. This opportunity connects the industry’s global and technology leaders, enabling a new era of pet care,” Whistle said in a release. “Mars Petcare and Whistle shared a core belief around the importance of pets in our lives, and we look forward to connecting nutrition, health care, and technology to improve the lives of pets and their families.”

Whistle, which has been called the “Fitbit for dogs”, has activity trackers to help you set your pet’s fitness goals, track progress and compare stats to other similar dogs. The location-sharing could also help you find your dog if it ever gets lost.

It’s the first device and app system to combine location-tracking and smart activity monitoring into one simple experience.

Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, Mars Petcare is one of the world’s leading pet care providers. They own numerous brands including IAMS, Pedigree and Royal Canin.

Nuzzle: The New Smart Collar Tag for Pets

The CEO of a new company called Nuzzle, Anthony Dubbaneh has created a smart collar tag for dogs and cats. The device allows owners to monitor their pet’s location, activity levels, temperature, and any impact events via their smartphone. Part of the reason the collars were created was to encourage pet owners to purchase pet health insurance (which can be done through the app).

Nuzzle app user interface.

Nuzzle is water-resistant, batteries are easily changed, and it can be attached to any pet collar. Nuzzle uses cellular GPS radio signals and has some internal sensors to monitor the animal. It is even capable of alerting an owner if their animal leaves their property or house. Nuzzle will record and track pet activity levels and alert the owner if the animal’s activity level decreases. The smart collar tag may be purchased for $149 USD.

Nuzzle encourages pet owners to purchase pet health insurance. Dubbaneh said, "The biggest reason why so few people have pet insurance is awareness. Fundamentally, pet insurance is marketed through direct mail, so it looks like just another piece of junk mail when it shows up in people's lives." Dubbaneh is looking for a successful way to market pet insurance through creating a useful product designed to start conversations about pet insurance. Ammunition’s design partner for Nuzzle, Matt Rolandson said, "There's plenty of wearables, trackers, and IoT devices out there searching for a recurring revenue relationship, without a lot of success. It's just absolutely genius to use a beautiful physical object as a way to attract people to an ongoing customer relationship."

Regarding the pet insurance push, Dubbaneh said, "At the end of the day, the relationship between a person and their pet is one of the strongest ones they have in life. It breaks my heart that so many people feel they can't afford to preserve that relationship in an emergency, just because they don't have enough money in their bank account."

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