Nimble Announces Acquisition of Waggle Ventures
Nimble, a pet tech company, announced the acquisition of Waggle Ventures, a social platform for pet owners. The company has also announced that Waggle founder Matthew Cavnar will stay on board as an advisor to support Nimble. Nimble’s solutions feature innovative pet sensors and wearables and the industry’s first cloud-based mobile app that serves as a one-stop solution for pet health, safety and fitness. The acquisition will further boost Nimble’s growing customer base through Waggle’s vast social media network. The company has more than 10,000 customers across the US and aims to grow 100X in the next 18 months.
Nimble, founded by Siva Sivakumar, is targeting the $70B+ US pet market with state-of-the-art IoT enabled products that address the safety, fitness and health of pets. The company builds innovative IoT (Internet of Things) products and their flagship product, the Nimble Pet Monitor, tracks the dog’s environment temperature, humidity and location and alerts the pet parents if the dog is in an inhospitable environment. Another innovative product just launched by Nimble is the Furbit, a wearable health tracker for dogs that can monitor their location and activities. It enables pet parents to set goals to track the progress of their dog’s fitness levels, get health insights, call a vet through its first-of-its-kind mobile app. The app also features personalized pet services finder, learn and share pet parent community, a pet health record management and other fun features.
Speaking on the acquisition, Sivakumar said, “Technology for pets is moving extremely fast. We envision a world where every pet is healthy, safe, fit and cared for. We are passionate about using technology to enhance the quality of pets’ lives. Waggle has a unique expertise in telling a fun and appealing story and reaching a wide audience. Bringing Waggle into the Nimble home allows us to continue their mission of informing and entertaining while also providing their audience with personalized access to the pet monitoring solutions we’ve demonstrated that they love. With Waggle, we see the opportunity to give people a community and home centered on the love they have for their pets and bring them real, tangible benefits for participating.”
Founded in 2016, Waggle is a fast-growing online community of pet owners for video distribution of animal content and email newsletters targeting city-specific dog owners with relevant information and events in their area. The social platform has more than 8M active users, 25M monthly users and clocks more than 200M minutes of monthly video views. Waggle was created by Broadway Video Ventures, the digital media arm of Broadway Video (production company behind SNL, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, etc.). Waggle is backed by top venture capital funds, including Lowercase Capital and Raine Ventures and creative agencies such as UTA.
Waggle Founder Matthew Cavnar commented, “The first time I met Siva, I knew that he understood what we wanted to do at Waggle and would offer the brand and its fans the right home to grow and expand our educational and entertaining mission. Despite the global pandemic, Siva and his team were able to work with us to create an opportunity that will give Waggle the opportunity to thrive for years.”
Roughly 11M US households own an RV and there are currently 5M RV owners who travel with their dogs. More than 15M Americans use an RV at least once in a year and this trend is increasing given the current social distancing safeguards created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The RV market is seeing tailwinds due to the pandemic, as RVing is considered the safest mode of transportation for outdoor recreation. Campgrounds and public parks are in various stages of phased re-openings and in the era of social distancing wide open spaces may be the place of choice for many travelers. Major RV manufacturers have reported ramping of production after suspending operations for many weeks. Dealers are also reporting a strong demand for RV rentals and sales as travelers look for options that minimize the risk of catching the virus. A recent survey by MMGY Global for the U.S. Travel Association found that 68 percent of people feel safe traveling in a personal vehicle. Parks topped the list of places most survey respondents are comfortable going, and the outdoors have always been a good fit for RV travel.
The acquisition will enable Nimble to reach out to a larger audience for their pet products. Their products are targeted at owners of RV who travel with their pets and need to maintain a steady and suitable climate inside for their safety. The company’s mission is to prioritize monitoring and security and help pet owners on-the-go maintain a comfortable environment for their pets. Nimble’s Pet App offers pet parents a quick and easy way to manage their pet health, fitness and safety with safety, health alerts/insights, track their pet’s fitness goals and a fun way to learn and share with fellow pet parents.