A pawsitively purrfect pre-seed: Miami startup raises $1.2M to develop tools for veterinarians
By Riley Kaminer
While the pandemic pet boom may be over, zooming out a bit shows that pet ownership still continues to rise. While 56% of US households had pets in 1988, 70% did in 2020.
The American Veterinary Medical Association notes that there are 150 million dogs and cats in the US but less than 60,000 veterinarians to care for them.
Miami-based Mascotte Health is on a mission to reduce this gap. The startup, founded by Turkish-American entrepreneur Bora Hamamcioglu, arms vets with the tech tools needed to maximize their revenue without increasing their headcount. This includes virtual triage, client communications, virtual front-desk assistance, after-hours care, and virtual scribing.
To make this vision come to fruition, Mascotte Health has raised a $1.2 million pre-seed round from Dubai-based Nuwa Capital. Other participants include angel investors from Uber, Turo, and Airbnb.
According to the startup, this pre-seed will enable the creation of a consumer-facing app to give 24/7 virtual care to pet parents within the next few months – on top of expanding its existing services for vet practices.
“Our mission at Mascotte is to empower veterinary heroes to focus on their true passion — practicing medicine and delivering the best possible medical treatment,” said Hamamcioglu, Mascotte Health’s CEO, in a statement.
“As their trusted operating partner, we are dedicated to building a full-stack veterinary support infrastructure that not only improves and optimizes day-to-day operations but also addresses the immense stress faced by clinical staff,” he continued. “With the industry’s significant employee shortage and the ever-increasing number of pets, we recognize the need to enhance health outcomes for all stakeholders involved.”
How do they do it? Mascotte Health has a team of vets and technicians on hand to help triage, book appointments, offer virtual care, and more. It emerged out of stealth this month after having successfully completed a pilot program with select vet practices. Mascotte Health asserts that deployment of its platform has led to a 70% decrease in phone calls, a 50% decrease in no-shows, and 40% increase in prescription compliance.
Previously, Hamamcioglu founded CarHopper, an online marketplace and fleet management software for luxury and exotic car rentals. CarHopper was acquired by Turo in 2020.
For Nuwa Capital’s managing partner, Khaled Talhouni, Mascotte Health has the opportunity to scale both domestically and internationally.
“Our investment in Mascotte reflects our belief in the team’s ability to excel in the veterinary care space,” Talhouni commented. “They have strategically differentiated themselves with a customer-centric approach, a steadfast focus on solid unit economics, and undeniable value for all stakeholders, including veterinary professionals and pet parents.”
READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:
- Wondering how old is your pet? EpiPaws can help and more pet-health innovation is on the way
- Miami-based Fursure pet insurance marketplace secures $3M more in funding
- Love pets but not the vet bills? So does Fursure
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