The veterinary services industry in Spain moved more than €1.1 billion in 2013, also becoming one of the few sectors to have a net positive impact on the jobs market. In the middle of it is Barkibu, a startup and platform for pet owners that want to see a doctor or vet without having to leave their house.
The startup has just announced that it has acquired Topveterinarios.com, directory of vets that will allow Barkibu to accelerate and increase the number of vets available on its site. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Barcelona-based and web development company Omatech is behind Topveterinarios; the studio was also responsible for early versions of sites from startups such as ByHours, Ipsojobs or Getapp.
Pets are everywhere
According to Barkibu there are 43 million dogs in Europe and more than 8.5 million homes in Spain have a pet. The veterinary global industry accounted for more than $97 billion in revenues in 2013, a number that has been growing over the past few years and that has attracted the attention of numerous startups around the world.
Barkibu aims to become a platform that connects vets with pet owners. As we’ve seen in the medical industry, there’s a significant portion of users that would rather make fast and simple questions to doctors online before deciding to visit a clinic or hospital in person. Apparently, the same applies to pets.
Since September more than 500 questions have been asked on Barkibu from more than 1,000 paid users. The startup’s business model consists on charging both vets (€79/month) and owners (€14,99/month for unlimited questions) a monthly fee. The challenge for the young startup is now to match supply and demand and increase both at a healthy rate.
Barkibu was co-founded by Pablo Pazos (CEO), Enrique Torrest (VP of development) and Patricia Méndez (CMO). Pablo was also co-founder of Really Late Booking, a last-minute hotel booking app that got screwed investment from eDreams Odigeo. The company is currently part of Lanzadera’s second batch, the accelerator associated to business man and Mercadona owner Juan Roig.
Interestingly, Barkibu has also recently launched Barkinews and Barkiadopta, editorial and non-profit initiatives, respectively, that also complement its main activity and business model.