Petlove&Co, a digital platform for pet products and services based in So Paulo, revealed today that it has raised around $150 million (R$750 million) in a funding round headed by Riverwood Capital.
The amount raised is nearly double what Pet love has ever raised. When it was formed in 1999, in the early days of the internet, the company was known as PetSuperMarket. Today, the company maintains an online site that sells a variety of pet products and services.
According to Crunchbase, Tarpon, SoftBank, L Catterton, Porto Seguro, and Monashees all joined in the investment round, bringing the company’s total raised to $225.8 million. Pet love has raised nearly $192 million since January 2020. This round was raised at an undisclosed valuation, according to the company. However, it did state that sales climbed by 65 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year. Pet love CEO Talita Lacerda stated that the fresh funding will be used in part to extend the company’s logistics network in order to improve delivery times.
It wants to expand its quick delivery service, Pet loves Já, to other locations, allowing things to be delivered within four hours of an order being placed. It is now only available in a few Brazilian cities, including So Paulo and Belo Horizonte.
Petlove’s subscription program, which Lacerda claims is the first of its kind in the country and one of the company’s core offerings will also benefit from the cash. According to Lacerda, the company’s subscription service enjoyed a “significant increase” during the epidemic, reaching 75 percent of Petlove’s volume.
In a written statement, Francisco Alvarez-Demande, co-founding partner and managing partner at Riverwood Capital, said, “The Brazilian pet market is one of the largest in the world, and Brazilian consumers are increasingly demanding digitally native products and services with a high level of customer-centricity.”
Following a recent combination with DogHero, the acquisitions of Vetus and PetSmart, and the launch of Porto. Pet, the company has changed and grown.
“To fulfill the demands of all players in this constantly developing sector, we have constructed an increasingly comprehensive and inclusive platform,” Lacerda said.
According to the firm, Brazil is the fourth largest pet market in terms of overall spending. According to the Instituto Pet Brasil, total pet market sales in Brazil will exceed US$7 billion (R$40 billion) in 2020, up 13.5 percent from the previous year, while Pet love will increase by 65 percent. Overall, pet ownership is high in Brazil, with 60% of Brazilians owning pets compared to 50% in the United States. According to PitchBook, Pet love employs around 400 people.
