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Now that you have this COVID dog, Embark Veterinary wants to help him be in your life for a long time by offering DNA testing with the goal of fighting preventable diseases and increasing the lifespan of dogs by three years over the course of of the next decade.
The Boston-based canine genetics company has raised $ 75 million in Series B funding in what the company calls “the largest Series B for a pet startup to date.” SoftBank Vision Fund 2 was the lead investor and was joined by existing investors F-Prime Capital, SV Angel, Slow Ventures, Freestyle Capital and Third Kind Venture Capital.
The new round brings Emark’s total funding to $ 94.3 million since the company was founded in 2015, according to data from Crunchbase. That also gives it a post-money valuation of $ 700 million, Embark founder and CEO Ryan Boyko told TechCrunch.
Boyko has been a dog lover his entire life and has also taken an interest in biology and evolution. Dogs, in particular, fascinate him because of their variety – they can be bred to weigh two or 200 pounds, and come in all shapes and sizes. His interest led him to study dogs in order to understand their evolution.
“I started to think about health issues, and honestly, dogs are a better system for using genetics to improve their health than humans,” Boyko said. “You can reproduce them, so genetics have as much power to cause health problems as they can improve quality and life.”
Emark’s dog DNA test costs $ 199 and allows dog owners, breeders and vets to customize care plans based on a dog’s unique genetic profile. It can test over 350 breeds and 200 genetic health risks, as well as physical traits. Similar to a 23andMe test, users of the test can learn characteristics about race, health, and ancestry.
For example, the test could show that a healthy dog may have a gene that predisposes them to herniated discs. If the dog has this, then weight management would be an important factor in his care regimen, just as not allowing him to jump off the couch. Another common genetic risk is HUU, or hyperuricosuria, which is high levels of uric acid in the urine that can lead to bladder stones due to the way dogs process minerals. By changing the dog’s diet, it could reduce the risk of developing stones, which are painful and expensive to treat, Boyko said.
The technology for the test is built around proprietary genotyping technology that analyzes more than 200,000 genetic markers, currently twice as much information as any other dog DNA test on the market, Boyko said. This gives Embark the world’s largest database of dog health and biological information, enabling the company to provide information on certain conditions and make new discoveries about health risks, traits and breeds. .
Embark aims to become the standard of care for dog owners and veterinarians. It grew 235% between 2019 and 2020 and has seen its sales five times higher in the past two years. To support this growth, the company intends to use the new funding to recruit key employees and expand its database. Boyko plans to add more than 100 employees between 2021 and 2022.
Boyko said the opportunity in the pet startup space is huge. Indeed, U.S. spending on pets reached nearly $ 100 billion in 2020, up from $ 95.7 billion in 2019, according to the American Pet Products Association.
At the same time, venture capital participation in U.S. pet-focused companies, from nutrition to travel to healthcare, increased 29.5% between 2019 and 2020, data shows. from Crunchbase. In addition to Emark funding, 2021 has also benefited other pet startups, including pet insurance company Wagmo, which raised $ 12.5 million, the collar company for Pets Connected Fi received $ 30 million and Rover, who announced plans to go public through SPAC.
Lydia Jett, a partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, told TechCrunch that this was her first pet-based investment, and what Embark is doing is bringing advancements in a category right now where people care enough. of their pets for wanting to do something that will expand their life value.
Jett said the leadership team dedicated to DNA-based analysis is the future, and Embark is starting that big curve when it comes to pets and the convergence of real emotional bonds with pets. and the ability to improve their lives.
“This company is a driver of change to come,” she added. “We’re the largest consumer investor in the world, and Embark is very much in line with what we’re seeing in our portfolio, which is that consumers are re-examining their priorities and choices. This is a major trend, but still at the start of the personalization cycle for their pets. “
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