New Venture Funding for Smart Pet Feeders

Investors have poured $4 million in funds into Petnet Inc., a company that makes SmartFeeder for dogs and cats that weigh up to 50 pounds.

The automatic feeder, controlled by the company’s mobile iOS app, will manage feeding times and determine portion sizes based on the pet’s age, weight and activity level. The app can also be used to find an optimal food for the pet, place an order and have it delivered to the pet owner’s home.

Petnet sees the SmartFeeder as a tool to combat the problem of pet obesity in the United States, with an estimated 52.7% of dogs and 57.9% of cats in the country overweight or obese according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention.

The primary risks of excess weight in pets include:

• Osteoarthritis
• Insulin resistance and Type 2 Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Heart and respiratory disease
• Kidney disease
• Reduced life span

Pet owners will also, no doubt, be attracted to the convenience of being able to feed their pets on schedule even if they are late returning home from work.

Petnet currently sells its SmartFeeder on Amazon and in Target stores, with new distribution channels imminent.

New pet owner app to launch October 25

Urban Animal subscribers were introduced to Woof at the 2013 Regional Conferences in Toronto where co-founder Dan Seider shared his innovative vision for a social network for dogs. 

Woof is a community driven app for dog lovers, bringing local dog communities closer together. Woof is packed with many features allowing dog owners to network, find nearby parks and shops, share photos, keep track of their pet's health records and habits and includes a customized 'lost dog' element that will help make lost dogs a lost problem. 

"The bigger picture of Woof is to be part of a dog parents life through the entire process," said Seider. "One of the features we're particularly looking forward to will come from our partnership with the [Ontario] SPCA. By using their Meet-Your-Match program, anyone will be able to find nearby dogs up for adoption and even the ones that match their lifestyle and personality - it's like eHarmony™ for dogs."

Woof will launch globally on October 25. The app currently features nearly 1,000 dog parks mapped out in North America and Seider says developers are planning to add other countries over time. Woof is initially being launched FREE on iOS with an Android app soon to follow. 

WOOF