Pet startup poised to become ‘Apple Health of Pets’ raises $5.6 million
Barkibu, the Spanish pet telemedicine startup, raises funds to expand their mission of creating a powerful library of pet health data.
The startup, founded in 2015, offers pet owners a range of pet health services, from a free AI-powered triage service that allows pet owners to figure out if their pet needs medical attention or not, to a subscription service for in-person consultations with veterinarians — and the insurance to cover the cost.
“We want to be the Apple Health of pets, a one-stop-shop where you can have all your pet’s information,” Alvaro Gutierrez – the co-CEO. “We are building a structured database of pet health that can begin to build correlations, for example, linking clinical data and insurance data to see how health conditions progress, and how treatments affect them.”
Gutierrez is a veteran of the pet tech sector, having cofounded Kiwiko, Spain’s largest pet retail and veterinary chain back in 2007.
“Pet health may surpass human health because it is easier to introduce new technology and mass data collection is also easier — mass interpretation of X-rays or broader genetic testing. You can have more visibility of what a pet is eating — humans lie about skipping the diet or having a drink but pets eat more or less the same thing every day,” said Gutierrez, adding that this could allow us to get a deeper understanding of the interplay between diet, exercise and various health treatments.
Source: Sifted