Rover Group buys Dublin's dog-sitter firm Gudog

With Gudog acquisition, Rover is reaching new territory in Ireland and Denmark, while adding 20,000 dog sitters and walkers across Europe, according to a statement

Rover chief hopes to convince more pet owners who lean on family and friends for pet care stopgaps to see the benefit of a commercial solution.

Rover Group Inc, a platform that connects pet owners to walkers and sitters, is buying Dublin-based marketplace Gudog as it eyes more buyouts and organic growth in Europe.

With the Gudog acquisition, Blackstone-backed Rover is reaching new territory in Ireland and Denmark, while adding 20,000 dog sitters and walkers across Europe, according to a statement. 

Prior to becoming a target, Gudog was itself a serial dog-sitting platform acquirer, the company’s website shows.

“We’ve green-lighted some investments that would’ve been harder to explain to our public market investors,” Rover co-founder and chief executive Aaron Easterly said in an interview. “The capital that Blackstone has, whether it’s equity or debt, is really amazing.” 

The strategy seems to be working. Revenue grew 13% last year to about $264m (€231.7m), while gross booking value climbed about 10% to $1.1bn (€1bn), Rover said. That was a turnabout from its fortunes as a public company, when its shares dropped 27% from the day it began trading after a merger with a blank-check company until Blackstone announced the take-private. Terms of the Gudog transaction were not disclosed in the statement.

Rover plans to expand to more countries in Europe, its fastest-growing region for first-time users, the statement shows. Rover has earmarked about $15m (€13.2m) to invest in new markets over the next five years and has its sights set on Switzerland, Finland, Austria, Poland and Belgium.

“Europe has a similar relationship to their pets that the US has,” Easterly said, adding the “pet-as-a-child dynamic” was crucial for Rover’s success. The geography also presents an opportunity different from the US, where dog adoptions have moderated from their covid pandemic era records.

Across the globe, Easterly hopes to convince more pet owners who lean on family and friends for pet care stopgaps to see the benefit of a commercial solution. That view is partly personal. Before Rover got its start in 2011, Easterly had trouble finding someone to watch Caramel, his four-pound Pomeranian, when he travelled for work.

While on the hunt for more businesses to buy, Rover is also exploring options for connecting pet owners with physical daycares, grooming services and a pet training offering.

“We just want to go down the list of pet parents’ needs that are not well-serviced by existing options,” Easterly said. “We’re open for business on the M&A front, both in Europe and beyond, and our current services and beyond.”

Bloomberg