As Millennials Choose Pets Over Babies, Pet Tech Is Silicon Valley’s Unlikely Industry
The pet industry has seen an explosion of growth in recent years. Data from market research firm Edge by Ascential shows that sales exceeded $225 billion in 2018 in North America alone, with that number expected to rise to $281 billion by 2023.
Millennials and Gen Zers now account for 62% of all pet owners, with only 32% of pets owned by older generations. And with younger generations treating their pets like a “firstborn child,” they’re causing a huge shift in pet industry consumer preferences.
Millennials grew up online, so it makes sense that they prefer digital solutions when it comes to caring for their pets. Add to that the fact that millennials are willing to spend more on their pets than older generations, and suddenly we have a flood of new and future revenue into the global pet industry — and Silicon Valley is taking notice.
Pet tech startups received more than $500 million in new investments last year, and this funding boom is enabling startups to integrate technology into pet care products in innovative new ways.
Much of the money is going to companies taking relatively familiar solutions and applying them to the pet space.
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