Former Licious executives launch digital pet care platform; raise $2.6M in pre-series A round led by Saama Capital, DSG Consumer Partners

Former Licious executives Vineet Khanna, Varun Sadana and Aman Tekriwal have announced the launch of digital petcare startup Supertails, which has raised over $2.6 million in pre-Series A round led by Saama Capital and DSG Consumer Partners.

Other investors include global Indian icon Deepika Padukone, Titan Capital, Sauce VC, and Whiteboard Capital. It is also backed by high profile individual investors like Tej Kapoor, Pankaj Naik (Executive Director, Avendus capital), Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta (Founders, Licious).

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Supertails is a first-of-its-kind platform that supports the ever-increasing pet parent community by providing trustworthy veterinary care and a one-stop solution for pet food and supplies. It is a fully digital tele-health consultation service made available through a team of highly experienced in-house veterinarians, and also offers doorstep delivery of pet supplies across the country.

The Supertails team comprises multiple entrepreneurs who have been contributing to this space for many years, including, Dr. Shantanu Kalambi, Chief Veterinarian at Supertails (founder Dial-a-Vet), who established a tele-health service for pets besides working on a variety of animal welfare and conservation projects with ReefWatch Marine conservation, Wildlife Trust of India and CUPA; Unnati Hunjan (founder Therapeutic Paws), who launched an animal-assisted therapy venture in Bangalore; and Sagar Sheth (founder of Animapp), who built a veterinary clinic management software company in Chennai.

Speaking to YourStory, Supertail's Co-founder Varun, a cat parent himself, highlighted that similar to the meat market, the pet market too needs disruption as pets are now seen as companions. He says that a relentless passion for the pet care ecosystem, and a vision to make India a pet-friendly nation, unites the founders of Supertails with their team of pet care experts and enthusiasts.

"We know that our pets are a part of our families, and they deserve nothing but the best. As experienced pet parents ourselves, we understand the anxieties and concerns one has to face in the journey of caring for a pet. With that in mind, we set up Supertails to make pet parenthood enjoyable and stress-free. We will continue to add more products and services designed to empower pet parents through expertise and convenience," he added.

Ash Lilani, Managing Partner at Saama Capital said, “As the population of pet parents increases in the country, so does the need for empathetic and agile service providers especially around nutrition and healthcare. The market growth rate in India has accelerated since 2019 from 16-17 percent to upwards of 20 percent in 2020. We are very excited to start this journey with the Supertails team, and become a part of the evolution in the pet care industry in India.”

In a statement, the company highlighted that, over the last five years, India has been one of the highest growing pet care markets in the world, largely backed by pet adoption by the millennial population and further fuelled by the need for companionship during the pandemic. "Dog adoption rates have grown upwards of 50 percent in 2020, while the cat market has grown upwards of 40 percent. With pets in more than 12 percent of urban Indian homes, the country is on the threshold of further exponential growth in this industry similar to what happened in more evolved pet markets like China ($30B) and the USA ($105B) in the past," it said in the statement.

Deepak Shahdadpuri, Managing Director at DSG Consumer Partners said, “We are big believers in the petcare opportunity in India, and have been tracking this space globally. We are investors in Perromart which is the largest online pet store in Singapore. We believe the team at Supertails has the right experience and skillset to build the most trusted digital-first pet destination in the country.”