LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MedicAnimal.com, the UK’s leading online pet health retailer, today announced that it has completed a £10 million Series C funding round.
The fundraising, led by major European venture capital firm Balderton Capital, also includes investments by Iris Capital, who led the previous round in October 2010, as well as existing angel investors from Europe, the U.S. and Asia. Mark Evans of Balderton Capital will join Alexander Wiedmer of Iris Capital, Cesar Mascaraque, former Managing Director for Europe at IAC/InterActiveCorp, and MedicAnimal.com founders Ivan Retzignac and Andrew Bucher on the board.
This latest investment allows MedicAnimal.com to hire new talent, strengthen its UK leadership position in online pet retailing and further expand into continental European markets.
Launched in October 2007, MedicAnimal.com is an online retailer of pet supplies, including food, supplements, medicines and accessories with a particular focus on veterinary diets, prescription and non-prescription medicines, and premium-quality products. MedicAnimal.com is registered both as a veterinary dispensary as well as a pharmacy in the UK and offers clients free advice from its in-house team of veterinarians and pharmacists via live chat, email or phone. The site also publishes news and advice related to general animal care and health issues. MedicAnimal.com is the UK’s largest pet health e-tailer, with revenue growth rates exceeding 150% per year since inception.
Andrew Bucher, co-founder, chief veterinarian and COO of MedicAnimal.com commented: “We were frustrated by the lack of education, accessibility and affordability of preventative and chronic health treatments - pets were suffering as a result. As a vet I was only able to improve the health of pets under my supervision but MedicAnimal.com offers a platform for improving pet care on a much larger scale.”
Ivan Retzignac, co-founder and CEO of MedicAnimal.com added: “At the core of our company is a simple mission to positively impact the welfare of all animals and to make life easier for pet owners. Often this means shattering the perception that proper diets and health treatments are expensive or inconvenient.”
“MedicAnimal.com continues to show that it can marry the business and growth opportunity afforded by e-commerce, with the noble purpose of benefiting pets by increasing treatment compliance and accessibility,” said Alex Wiedmer, Partner of Iris Capital. “We continue to buy into this vision, and are delighted Balderton joined us as investors in this great company.”
Mark Evans, a Partner at Balderton Capital, commented: “We’ve been hugely impressed by the MedicAnimal.com team and the superb service they provide to people that want the very best for their pets and animals. We see masses of potential in this sector and we’re thrilled to be on board”.
Post the £10m investment, the team remain focused on expanding their customer base and building their operations across Europe.
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About Balderton Capital
Balderton Capital is one of the largest venture capital firms in Europe, committed to finding and helping talented entrepreneurs build great companies. Based in London, the firm manages $1.9 billion in committed venture capital. Since 2000, Balderton has invested in over 100 companies, principally in numerous European countries but also in the US and Asia. Notable investments include YOOX Group (the online retailer of leading fashion brands, listed in December 2009), LOVEFiLM (the home entertainment subscription service sold to Amazon in January 2011), Betfair (the online betting exchange floated in London in October 2010), Bebo (sold to AOL for $850m), and MySQL (sold to Sun for $1 billion). Further investments in Balderton’s growing e-commerce portfolio include: The Hut Group, Achica, WorldStores, Gemvara, KupiVIP, My-Wardrobe.com and Vestiaire Collective. For more information, visit: www.balderton.com.
About Iris Capital
Iris Capital is a leading pan‐European venture capital fund manager specializing in the digital economy: media, telecoms, internet and IT. Iris Capital has recently partnered with Orange and Publicis to manage their joint venture capital initiative. Since its inception in 1986, the Iris Capital team has invested more than €870 million. Iris Capital targets opportunities in service or technology companies, seeking growth capital in order to realize its strategy. It provides active support to its portfolio companies on the basis of its strong sector specialization and experience. Iris Capital’s team currently has presence in Paris, Dusseldorf and Dubai.
About MedicAnimal
MedicAnimal was founded in October 2007 by Ivan Retzignac and Andrew Bucher. Prior to MedicAnimal, Andrew spent 6 years as a practising veterinary surgeon in the UK and Australia and Ivan worked for Goldman Sachs in London. The company has now grown to 150 employees and is based in North London. In 2011 they were featured in the Red Herring Top 100 companies in Europe and earlier this year they were listed as one of the top 50 fastest growing digital companies in the GP Bullhound Media Momentum Awards.