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Europe’s pet consumer market offers a tasty prospect for startups. The continent’s pet owners are willing to spend a yearly average of €158 on pet tech products and eight of the top ten most dog-friendly countries are in Europe according to a 2022 index.
But pet techs face scaling barriers, from regulation to language differences. Here’s what issues pet techs face when going cross-border — and how they can be overcome.
Regulatory problems
Start with regulations, which in some cases lock pet owners into using existing technologies when new approaches could work better. For instance, while microchip technology is mandatory in Europe, the most commonly used technology is 20 years old, says Oskar Moore, CEO of Dsruptive Subdermals, a startup developing chip implants.
The key is empowering pet owners to demand these from their vets. They need to be part of this change in the market.
His company’s product, BeUNO Pet, combines traditional microchip technology with near-field communication technology, which allows smartphones to scan pets directly. The scan can also reveal health data such as vaccination cards, medical histories and allergies.
“If your pet has run off, your neighbour can scan the pet with their smartphone, and up comes the pet’s name and address,” says Moore. “When someone scans your pet, you get a ping on your phone and the other person can call you immediately.”
Some jurisdictions have national microchipping requirements and others implement regulations on a regional basis. There are also monopolies in some countries.
For example, in Austria, the government only collaborates with a select number of microchip manufacturers. “As microchips became increasingly mandatory, it’s difficult for a small player like us to disrupt the market,” says Moore.
One suggestion is a regulatory body that helps market innovative microchip solutions.
“If we had a regulatory body for all of Europe that could understand and evaluate different microchip options available in the market, and offer them effectively to both veterinarians and pet owners, that would open up new avenues for us,” says Moore. “In certain places, we’re speaking directly to vets who are showing a lot of interest, but having to go through the local channels every time is very time consuming.”
But Moore is optimistic about breaking through these market barriers.
“I haven’t met a pet owner who wouldn’t want temperature monitoring, digital storage of medical records and passports and enhanced retrieval options, for a few extra dollars or euros,” he says. “The key is empowering pet owners to demand these from their vets. They need to be part of this change in the market.”
Overcoming fragmentation
DogBase is an AI-powered SaaS solution for logging, tracking and monitoring the training performance of working dogs.
“Once training is logged, we provide insights and analytics, tracking all aspects of the process,” says DogBase’s founder Almog Koren. “We’ve implemented AI features that offer recommendations and help prevent trainer bias.”
Founded in Israel with an office in Spain, the company is looking to the US market for growth as Europe is tougher to scale a digital business since the common market only covers physical goods.
EU membership might make it easier to sell physical products, but language is a challenge for software.
“Many companies are primarily working on hardware or pet treats, which is very different from our business model,” says Koren. “EU membership might make it easier to sell physical products, but language is a challenge for software — you need to create marketing materials for every language, which adds costs for early-stage startups.”
There are also disparities in market size between European countries, with lower purchasing power outside of big markets like Germany, Austria and France.
“If the EU made the decision tomorrow to start building tech ecosystems around startups, it could take several steps to improve the visa process for external tech workers, which is currently a lot easier in the US,” says Koren. “It could also work on building better networks connecting startups to VCs and angel investors in order to overcome the language fragmentation barrier.”
Bureaucracy can mean business
Some startups, though, are building businesses out of bureaucracy. The booming popularity of pet travel has run into rules around strict border controls to prevent the spread of diseases, protect wildlife and ensure animal welfare. While essential, these regulations can be daunting for pet owners who aren’t sure how to navigate them.
It’s actually cheaper to take pets abroad than it is to put them in kennels.
Vets Dr Sophie Compton and Dr Katherine Phillips founded SK Pet Travel to streamline the process. Many more people would travel with their pets if it was easier to do, says Dr Phillips.
“It’s actually cheaper to take pets abroad than it is to put them in kennels,” she notes. “Pets have become people’s fur babies and they want to take them on holiday.”
Travel within the EU is standardised thanks to the European Pet Passport, which contains a description of the pet, its microchip or tattoo code and its health records, as well as contact details for the owner. These can be issued by any authorised vet.
But travelling into the EU from outside is more complicated. To enter from Great Britain, pets must have official health documentation signed by an Official Veterinarian (OV) — a vet authorised to work on behalf of the UK government. This Animal Health certificate (AHC) must contain proof of their microchip number, rabies vaccination and tapeworm treatment.
To travel outside of the EU, a British pet needs an Export Health Certificate (EHC), and the requirements change depending on the destination. Some are very strict, like Australia, which aims to protect its unique wildlife from foreign pathogens by imposing quarantine mandates.
“Outside of Europe, it’s more complicated — we’ve had a couple of cases where the UK government didn’t even have a form to fill out, so we had to contact the Peruvian embassy to get the information the client needed,” says Dr Phillips.
Many vets are overwhelmed at work and their mental health suffers as a result, with 50% or more reporting moderate to high levels of burnout. The additional burden of having to navigate the health certificate process while working in a busy veterinary clinic can be too much.
“I enjoy doing these certificates, but most of my colleagues find it really stressful — if you get it wrong the animal can get turned away at the border, and if you’re not used to doing them, which most vets aren’t, it’s a lot of pressure,” says Dr Phillips.
Additionally, not all veterinary practices have an OV.
“Many general practices or first opinion clinics aren’t set up to do animal health certificates, and since it can be easily outsourced, that’s what we do,” says Dr Compton.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/europe-scale-international-pet-techs-brnd/
