(Image source from: New investment from Ratan Tata!})
Ratan Tata, one of the top industrialists, has invested in pet care portal DogSpot.in. With this, he is continuing the investments slew he has been making in startups globally. The value of the investment remains undisclosed.
Rana Atheya, DogSpot.in co-founder and CEO, said, “Ratan Tata has invested an undisclosed amount in DogSpot.in. Ronnie Screwala also invested in this round along with a few new and existing investors.” Among other investors in the round are Ashok Mittal, Dheeraj Jain, Rishi Parti and Abhijeet Pai.
Atheya said, “The investment by Mr Tata is an endorsement of the long held belief by us and our investors that the Indian pet care sector is going through a phase of huge growth and transformation. DogSpot.in is poised to become an agent of this transformation.”
“The funds raised will be deployed towards offering new range of products under the existing brand. Indian pet care market doesn’t have too many products and brands catering to the fast growth segment,” Atheya added.
Earlier, DogSpot.in got seed funding in 2012 from Aloke Bajpai (ixigo.com founder), Vikas Saxena (Nimbuzz CEO) and few others followed by one more round by India Quotient (Rs 1 crore) in 2013. In 2014, Unilazer (Ronnie Screwvala), India Quotient (Anand Lunia) and K Ganesh (Growth Story) invested in the company.
Dexter Capital Advisors advised DogSpot.in on the current deal.
“To cater to these pet owners/lovers, our business needs to scale up in every aspect to be able to match up to their requirements. To achieve the desired growth we have to be operationally more efficient and our products have to be global in nature and therefore this funding is a crucial milestone for DogSpot.in,” Atheya said.
-Sumana
