Antler Demo Day: RightPaw takes buying a dog online

How do you find the right dog?

There are very few industries in the world yet to be digitised thanks to advancing and accessible technologies. One, however, which is yet to make the shift online, is buying a pet.

RightPaw, which recently launched in early-stage VC accelerator Antler Australia’s program, with Antler also investing in the startup, is doing just that.

The RightPaw website connects vet-approved breeders with potential owners to buy their pet online.

CEO Nathan Olivieri said they worked with breeders to build a platform that worked for them.

“They didn’t want just another website, so we helping build the right tools for them to manage their kennels easily,” he said

Nathan is a seasoned growth marketer and entrepreneur who spent six years in global marketing roles at Unilever in Australia and the UK and a former journalist whose wife is a vet, so he’s close to RightPaw’s market.

“She has first hand experience of what happens when a dog doesn’t have the best start in life. She knows the problem and we saw an opportunity to make a difference,” he said.

“At the moment, breeders can be found on Facebook communities, associations or classifieds sites that don’t inspire confidence. Breeders use whiteboards and spread sheets to match dogs with owners and consumers are cross-referencing multiple websites to find a dog. We saw an way to improve and digitise this process.

“We worked with breeders and vets and looked at state guidelines to choose the most important criteria in what makes a responsible breeder. Taking a fresh, objective view, we translated this into consumer friendly language that is digestible and easy to understand.”

CTO Adelaine Ho has a wealth of experience as front-end engineer and shares her co-founder’s determination to help people find responsible breeders through virtual vetting technologies.

“Adelaine, is an expert in transforming industries to online platforms to make them simpler and safer,” Olivieri said.

“With her help we can streamline the process, follow up to make sure the dogs are being socialised and looked after and make a difference to the breeder industry.

“People are always looking for dogs. At the moment, breeders are getting ten times more enquiries than usual and are struggling to keep up with this demand. RightPaw will help them manage leads and spend less time on administration.”

Consumers can search through curated profiles of available dogs from vet-approved breeder partners, enquire with breeders in the secure RightPaw chat and submit puppy applications. RightPaw also offer a range of welcome-home services including puppy training courses.

“In the legacy industry of breeders, much effort is put into finding a good home for the dog,” Olivieri said.

“However, the support after this can really vary. The first six to 12 months of a dog’s life is crucial and that is where RightPaw comes in. We match the right dog with the right owner from the start, and believe that this will have a massive impact on the industry.

“Consumers can have confidence that the breeders on our platform are responsible and ethical. Our aim is to unite the responsible breeding community towards a common goal.”

The founder said their plans are to keep building on our database of responsible breeders and then branch into shelters.

“Post COVID-19, we predict that there will be a lot of dogs that will need to be re-homed as people return to work, so that will be the next challenge,” Olivieri said.

“The number of cross breeders is less well-known – as there is no unified regulatory association that they are part of – so this is also a growing part of the industry.”

Olivieri said education will be an important part of what they do.

“We aim to build awareness with the public to let them know that RightPaw has all the right information in one place,” he said.

“To educate them about what to look for and have transparency about what breeders are doing, where the dogs are coming from and why this dog is the right one for them. The welfare of the dogs is always top of mind.”

Breeders can try the app for free by signing up at rightpaw.com.au.

Potential pet owners can subscribe to be notified when the app goes live.