Home4Pet Startup To Tap 4 Metro Cities In The Next Phase Of Expansion

A True Friend on a Journey Called Life!! Relationships with pets can be traced back to the early days of civilization,dogs, cats, horses and camels would travel around with human groups and became man's trusted furry companion and also a source of well being for humans. Fast forward to modern times and they still continue to be our best pals.

This became the foundation to start building Home4pet on. The three of us (founders) are sworn animal lovers and realized early on that there was a huge vacuum in the market when it came to pet services, while there were a myriad options to buy grooming products and pet food online, there was no single platform which took care of all pet needs under one umbrella.

While we all have our common interest of being pet lovers we bring diversity to the project in that one of the founders is from the pet training industry, one a hands on chartered accountant and the third a risk & fraud management cum operations and logistics genius. They all gave a thought that why not bring together this awesome community under one umbrella.

Edited excerpts-
The Thought & Vision:

We at Home4pet aim at providing the pet parent with products and services that range from Pet Food, Pet Toys, Pet Designer Clothing and Bedding , Other Accessories, Vets on call both Allopathic and Homeopathic, Pet Lab, Pet Boarding and Lodging, Pet Taxi, Pet Ambulance, Pet Burial Services, Pet Trainers, Pet Spas , Pet Cafe, Pet Photographer, Pet Security Tags, Pet Rehabilitation and Fitness Equipment, Pet Magazines , Pet Birthday Organizers, Online Pet Training Courses and to top it all Pet Insurance to keep them secure from all medical contingencies at wallet friendly prices.

Challenges Faced Initially:

We sat every day sketching a blue print, searching through data on the net as to how to bring together this concept from paper to portal, endless sessions of tea in hotel lounges and brainstorming finally brought us to a list of services that could be started with from phase 1.

The most arduous task was to find the right people who offer these services with the same relentlessly undying passion and have operations in India. We traveled the length and breadth of the city to speak with these people and educate them about our concept. 3 months and we were able to convince the first set of providers that would be on board, they were hesitant but we reminded them to have faith in us and in our concept .

The unadulterated conviction in our concept and vision was infectious, percolating onto the partners. We adjust sails time and again with " We shall overcome” jingle in our heads when navigating our course .

How did you come up with the idea and what was the Eureka moment?
A random conversation over a tea session with the founder of an e-tailor company led us to the idea; Keeping in view the paucity of time (which is a catalyst in new and emerging buying patterns) and having faced challenges ourselves in buying pet services online turned out to be a eureka moment.

Next 3 days saw rigorous research on the internet looking up people offering similar services, we left no stone unturned in looking up merchants overseas . We found zilch in India and that was the birth of " HOME4PET”.

How did you build the core team?

Our core team consists of old buddies that have stayed connected in various phases of their corporate life and share a common love towards animals. We all were itching to carve a niche outside of our corporate world.

The selection of the initial team members was a very challenging and a time consuming exercise though. Our concept being niche and very specific to an audience that is extremely discerning, meant that all who came on board had to be sensitive, perceptive and compassionate towards animals and genuinely understood the woes of the pet parents .

Rajeev discussed this idea with the other core members and it was voted for a go ahead, then on we began filling our blank canvas with colours . Our persistent confidence in our vision ensured that we weren't knotted up in our stomach.

Give us a background of your core team?

Rajeev Talwar aged 46 is the brain Behind this who brought together the pet lovers. A seasoned professional with profound knowledge of finances apart from being an avid animal lover

Avtar Singh Virk aged 47, a thoroughbred risk and fraud management degree holder from US who will be looking after the logistics, operations, market tie-ups and other areas to ensure a seamless delivery experience.

Vinod Agarwal aged 46 , a science graduate having deep sense of connect with the furry companions as a trainer and handler himself . His thorough understanding of the cause helped bring the Vets on board.

What has been revenue, traction and growth from the date of inception till now?

Since inception in May, 2016 we got the portal go live in August and our first orders coming in Sep 16 onwards. We stepped up the Social Media presence due to which we have garnered huge curiosity amongst pet parents who are now placing orders with us. We are on a healthy growth trajectory and with unique hits of about 8k monthly on to our website. The average ticket size is about 2k. In terms of nos India stands at a 20% share of the 8 Billion$ global market, where it has a potential to reap Y.O.Y 35% buoyancy only in terms of food, the rest is an untold story yet to unfold through Home4pet.

What is the one thing that sets you apart from your competitors and what's your revenue model?

It would be fair to say here that we are pioneers in this concept , thereby making us market leaders in India . Still in its nascent stage this market has the potential to grow exponentially as we work towards streamlining and bringing a structure to the otherwise unorganised market.

The existing services by others being offered, if any , are restricted to only products and food that too on varied ad platforms , our cyber presence will be as aggregators encompassing all services and products under one umbrella of Home4Pet, leading to a hassle free transactional experience.

Competition to us as of now is “nil” all others are mere informatory or listing platforms , we are the “only” working platform that provides packages for every need. Most of the portals are only selling their own or third party products.

How are you funded?

We dipped into our own finances to help take off Home4Pet.

Future plans –

We aim to have a PAN India presence, and a brand which people associate with, in terms of a one stop solution to all pet parent needs. Our next phase of expansion would be to tap into 4 other Metros, making our presence felt globally too is being discussed with the right channels.