Pet telehealth startup Dutch raises $20M to provide virtual pet care and visits with licensed veterinarians

Dutch, a telehealth startup that is seeking to revolutionize pet care by providing pet parents access to licensed veterinarians from the convenience of their home, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Forerunner Ventures and Eclipse Ventures. Dutch launched in the summer of last year with $5 million in seed funding, which brings the company’s total funding to $25 million.

Unlike the traditional veterinary model, Dutch specializes in treating chronic, quality-of-life conditions such as pet anxiety, allergies, and other dermatological issues. Dutch uses licensed veterinarians and provides a digital health platform for pets and their owners to make pet care more accessible. The company charges starting at $15 per month for unlimited video chat to solve all pet needs, Dutch states on its website.

“With the $100 billion pet sector thriving, pet health trailing human health when it comes to digital evolution, and pet parents increasingly sold on the merits and ease of telemedicine post-pandemic, there’s never been a better time to back problem solvers in the category,” Forerunner partner Nicole Johnson said.

Founded in 2021 by Andrew Grant, Carlos Moreno, and Joe Spector, the Martinez, California-based Dutch focuses on treating curable ailments that keep pets from living their best lives. By using telehealth solutions to connect pet parents with licensed veterinarians, Dutch makes veterinary visits convenient and practical. Dutch-affiliated vets work with your pet over time, whenever they need it, allowing our veterinarians to go beyond the symptoms and identify the root cause of your pet’s chronic suffering.

“Many of our pets suffer from chronic conditions such as allergies and anxiety. Sadly, many also go untreated. Traditional vet appointments are inconvenient, expensive, and often stressful for our best friends. This leads to putting off wellness visits until a pain point is unignorable and frequently pushing quality-of-life issues under the rug. This is the reality of pet healthcare in the U.S. — but we know we can do better.”

“Like tens of millions of other Americans, my wife and I got a pandemic puppy,” Spector said. “Even though we’ve been using telemedicine for ourselves and our kids during the lockdowns, I realized that pretty much any interaction I would need for my new pup would require me dragging him to the vet’s office, which is not only expensive but time-consuming. It didn’t make sense that humans and even babies could chat with a doctor online and get medications prescribed, but pet parents could not. I realized there was a much-needed opportunity to create a modern form of accessible, high quality, and trustworthy veterinary care for everyday ailments.”

Dutch currently operates and provides services to pet owners in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, South Dakota, Virginia, Idaho, and Indiana. The company plans to add more states in the near future.