Indian Startup Pawzeeble Is Building a Pet-Focused Social Networking Space for Indian Users

If you are a pet parent or have been in the past, you know about the struggle of finding other pet owners to share your experiences and learn from theirs. The lucky ones find a couple of pet parents in the neighbourhood, but for the rest, the community experience of being a pet parent can be pretty non-existent. It is not just a loss of social interaction but also critical pet-related information, such as knowledge about the best veterinarian, pet groomers, pet boarding, walkers, and insurance.

But as is the case in the modern world, physical gaps are often filled by digital bridges. Noting a demand for pet-focused social media platforms and utility services, several companies have popped up globally. In France, Yummypets has been providing a “social petwork” to users since 2012, while in Japan, Dokonoko has been a community for pet parents since 2016. There are several similar platforms, but because of their nature and the space they operate in, they are all quite niche.

In India, the market operates a bit differently. While there are dedicated companies focused on pet care and utilities, no brand exclusively caters to the social networking aspect. However, the landscape has started to change. Case in point is Pawzeeble, a Pune-based startup that combines utility and community to provide a unique offering in the country's digital pet market.

To learn more about the company and the unique needs and demands of India's burgeoning pet economy, Gadgets 360 spoke with Yashh Sathe, Founder and CEO of Pawzeeble. During the conversation, Sathe spoke about the motivation behind starting a pet-focused venture, the offerings, and how he plans to scale it to meet the aspirations of millions of pet owners in the country.

The Inception of Pawzeeble and Early Setback

The idea behind Pawzeeble did not come from analysing business research papers or identifying a profitable gap in the market. It was conceptualised, little by little, after Sathe began taking care of Leah, a paralysed rescue pup. Like most first-time pet parents in India, Sathe had to figure out the vaccine schedule, grooming rituals, supplements, and other aspects of caring for a pet.

“While going through that transition phase, I realised that there's a huge gap in the industry where people are not able to communicate about topics relating to pet care. That was the first time I realised the need for a platform like Pawzeeble,” he said.

This realisation came to Sathe while he was pursuing an MBA degree at the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Pune, in 2018. Once he passed out in 2019, he started bringing this vision to reality. After surveying a large number of pet owners and sensing a strong interest in the product, he released Pawzeeble as an app in February 2020.

“The app was downloaded 23,000 times, entirely organically. Within days, it had 1,500 to 2,000 posts with pet parents discussing different topics. The engagement was great despite the app being limited by features,” Sathe said.

However, just months later, the COVID-19 pandemic came knocking on the window, and the third-party company that built and had maintained the company shut down. As a result, the app had to be taken down as well.

Pawzeeble v2.0

A single setback is often enough to kill the entrepreneurial dreams of many. But Sathe persevered. During the pandemic, he spent time building a financial vision for the company, which was scalable. He noticed that, unlike the West, India lacked a unified platform that offered both social community and pet services.

Pawzeeble Founder Yashh Sathe
Photo Credit: Pawzeeble

The new version of the platform was first built as a website, and recently Pawzeeble was also launched as a mobile app. Currently, users can post about their pets and share their experiences with others, and they can book services such as a veterinarian appointment, hire a trainer, book pet grooming and boarding services, and even get insurance for them.

It also lets users get reminders for meals, water, medicines, walks, deworming, vaccination and more. Recently, a new feature dubbed Clans has also been added. Clans are basically breed-specific groups where users can connect with pet parents of the same breed. They can share photos, videos, posts, ask questions, and even make responsible mating requests. To top it off, Pawzeeble also has its built-in AI chatbot dubbed Sheru, which can answer users' questions about their pets.

Sathe said the platform's hero product is Pawteckt, an all-in-one pet care subscription that costs Rs. 1,999 a year. It also comes with insurance from HDFC Ergo, covering a large number of diseases, illnesses, and injuries. The subscription also unlocks premium features on the platform, including discounts, cashbacks, unlimited health record storage, and 24/7 assistance from Sheru AI.

Collaborating With Pet Service Providers

The true backbone of Pawzeeble's ecosystem lies in its enterprise tech. Recognising that veterinarians are the primary influencers of the pet industry, Sathe's team developed a highly curated, Indianised enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) system for clinics. Priced at Rs. 12,000 a year, it manages everything from patient flow and vaccine cycles to digital prescriptions for the users on the platform.

This B2B infrastructure directly powers the B2C experience. Because the clinics use Pawzeeble's software, every time a pet parent visits a partner vet, the diagnosis, bill, and upcoming vaccination schedules are automatically synced to the pet parent's personalised cloud profile. Today, this multi-tier architecture has securely organised the data of over two lakh pets across 500-plus partner clinics in 40 cities.

"We were very focused on creating the Indian pet care industry as a paperless industry," Sathe explained. The value comes from a pet parent having all the relevant documents about their pet available via a single unified interface.

Pawzeeble's Traction by Numbers

Sathe revealed that today, Pawzeeble has more than two lakh registered users and over 500 service providers in 40 different Indian cities. The new app has a total of over 20,000 downloads, with 28 percent monthly active users (MAU). For a new app operating in a niche market, the number highlights that there is a demand for a social space for pet parents.

Pawzeeble is also claimed to have a 29 percent of repeat users (those who made a purchase from the platform) and a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 17 percent in FY25. The user base itself grew by 13 percent in the same duration. Notably, the startup has raised a pre-seed round via Angel Network, and is currently working on raising its next round in the ongoing financial year.

Looking forward, Pawzeeble fills an important gap in pet owners' lives by providing a dedicated space where they can interact with others and learn from their experiences. Bundling pet services as part of the entire experience also allows users not to worry about searching through websites and listings. The app still needs a bit of polish, and some social networking features still seem to be missing, but considering the only other alternative for Indian pet owners was Facebook groups, this appears to be a big upgrade.