Dog-sitting app Rover fetches $155m to keep up in the hound-race against Wag

Rover, a dog-walking and dog-boarding service that acquired DogVacay around this time last year, announced a massive $155m financing round.

The round consisted of $125m in equity financing led by T. Rowe Price associates. According to The Wall Street Journal, the round values Rover just south of $1B, with their total funding at $310m.

It’s like Tinder for matching dog owners with caretakers

Rover matches dog owners with various users who will walk, board, and take care of dogs in general — which is always handy for professionals who don’t work in dog-friendly offices (do those even exist??).

This round makes Rover the second pet-care startup to lap up massive funding this year, with pet-sitting juggernaut Wag recently picking up $300m in a round led by SoftBank as well.

Now, a dog-eat-dog game of tug-o-war is heating up

Despite Wag’s massive cash influx, TechCrunch reports that there is still room for a company like Rover to dethrone them as the alpha of the pack.

Both DogVacay and Rover eventually merged in an all-stock deal to compete with the bull mastiff of dog-sitting apps — who recently received criticism, according to a scathing Bloomberg report, for poor service and actually losing dogs (in this day and age, that’s like losing a child!).

Rover plans to use their funding as a chance to seize growth opportunities in other verticals like grooming, vet services, and training in the $100B global pet care industry.

Good. Now roll over…