The pet care industry is booming as pet owners, many of whom are millennials, are more attentive than ever, which can be seen in the popularity of brands like The Famer’s Dog . While pet food has benefitted from tremendous innovation, the veterinary industry has not adapted to today’s pet owner. Modern Animal has created the membership veterinary care service that makes full-service care for man’s best friend easily accessible. The membership model costs an annual rate of only $100 for 24/7 access to telemedicine and unlimited visits to Modern Animal’s locations. Modern Animal plans to open up its first location in Beverly Grove in early 2020 with several more sites in the works.
LA TechWatch sat down with Modern Animal CEO and Cofounder Steven Eidelman to learn about how his experience as a pet owner and an entrepreneur inspired him to modernize the veterinary industry, the company’s future growth plans, and recent round of funding.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Our $13.5M Seed round was led by Founders Fund, with participation from Upfront Ventures, Susa Ventures, BAM Ventures, BoxGroup, DCM, LJ Ventures, and Wonder Ventures.
Tell us about the product or service Modern Animal offers.
Modern Animal is the next generation in veterinary care. Responding to the needs of pet owners and practitioners, Modern Animal is reinventing the entire veterinary experience by building ground-up clinics, technologies, and membership services. Our goal is to remove the points of friction between the pet owner and doctor to create a more seamless experience for our members, their pets and our team.
What inspired you to start Modern Animal?
After eight years in the category and as a pet owner myself, I’ve seen the veterinary market expand due to medical advancements and the growing emotional and financial investment in their pet’s wellbeing. With innovation in the industry lagging, I was inspired to build Modern Animal as a place that works better for all stakeholders, including pets, their humans, and veterinarians – and our platform will enable the team to do their best work and provide our clients with seamless access to care anywhere, anytime.
How is Modern Animal different?
We have taken a uniquely full-stack approach to the problems in our industry – from every corner of the clinic to every pixel of the app. Our entire experience focuses on providing the right Modern Animal teammate or technology at the right time to the right pet and owner. Some hospitals or standalone apps may have similar features, but Modern Animal is focused on bringing all of these together through a seamless experience, making full-service care easily accessible anywhere, anytime. Our membership model facilitates this with 24/7 care through video, audio, or chat in addition to our full range of services available at our clinics.
While there is a lot of activity in the industry – from standalone apps to corporate roll-ups – Modern Animal is tackling the complete solution.
What market is Modern Animal targeting and how big is it?
The US veterinary industry is $20B and has grown steadily for the past several decades.
Who do you consider to be your main competitors?
There are many great doctors providing excellent medical care today across different models, from independent to corporate. We hope to expand access to care for pet owners in our local communities while raising the bar for how care is delivered in areas where existing providers have operated for many years. Modern Animal’s focus is pushing the industry forward – and providing equity to everyone in our clinics, unique to the space – so we can all participate in the value created.
What’s your business model?
Modern Animal runs on a core membership model of $100 per year for 24/7 telemedicine and unlimited visits at our locations. Outside of the membership, services and diagnostics will be priced in a transparent manner competitive to the industry.
What was the funding process like?
Modern Animal is fortunate to have the support of leading technology and consumer investors, who saw the opportunity in both pet care as a market and our unique experience as founders to build once again in the space. Many of these investors have a long-standing relationship with us either from working together at prior firms or investing in Whistle.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
One of the big questions any startup faces is how much capital to raise and when. Our goal with Modern Animal is to build a lasting enterprise while growing at a venture capital pace – we challenged ourselves and our investors to work through the right amount and milestones for this initial raise, and plan to do so for future raises as well.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Global pet care is a $100B+ market, in which veterinary services is a critical and non-cyclical component. With the humanization of pets – from the yard to the home to the bed, as with our own dogs – this market shows no sign of slowing down. Our investors had high conviction in these macro trends as well as specific support of our vision in the space and desire to build a category-leading company.
Global pet care is a $100B+ market, in which veterinary services is a critical and non-cyclical component. With the humanization of pets – from the yard to the home to the bed, as with our own dogs – this market shows no sign of slowing down. Our investors had high conviction in these macro trends as well as specific support of our vision in the space and desire to build a category-leading company.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
While we announced our round this month, our first location is scheduled to open in Beverly Grove (West Hollywood/Fairfax District) in early 2020. Throughout 2020, we will continue to grow overall brand awareness, as well as drive membership at this first location and subsequent locations across LA.
What advice can you offer companies in Los Angeles that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Focus on the customer. The most important thing for any startup is how quickly and intimately they can get in touch with the pains that their new product or service addresses for the consumer/customer. Capital should support that, and ideally, investors will value the insights generated from that customer exploration. In this process and in general, we always encourage founders to focus on doing one thing really well and betting the business on strong execution on that single product or service.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Brandwise, we aim to have established ourselves as the most trusted advisor in the pet space and a more broadly a lifestyle brand that actively engages in our community as well as across like-minded verticals including health and wellness, fitness, charity, influencer, and more. Within the near term, we look forward to opening our first location in early 2020!
What is your favorite restaurant in LA?
Apple Pan has been my lifelong favorite since I was a kid growing up in LA. Hickory burger over steak burger – a controversial choice as my cofounder reminds me. And I’m a regular at Superba these days, which was also designed by our architectural partners at Design, Bitches, a phenomenal design firm based here in LA.
