On the face of it, Mascotte Health may appear as an unusual investment for us. It is not entirely within our geographic mandate as it looks to expand both in the US and in MENA as well as other geographies. Being in the pet care and veterinary space, it is targeting a sector that is somewhat unusual for MENA VC investors. However, we believe that Mascotte Health is in a unique position to scale regionally and internationally (particularly in the US) and completely reshape the pet care industry at large and in doing so delivering an outsized return.

The team at Mascotte is looking to revolutionize the pet care space through supporting both veterinary clinics and pet owners through a holistic tech enabled digital platform connecting both for better healthcare outcomes. Initially, the company is building out a SaaS platform for veterinary clinics digitizing the management of clinics while driving efficiency and productivity gains, something they have proven to accomplish in their pilot programs. From there, the company will expand the platform to create a better consumer experience for pet owners through various digital channels connecting both clinics/clinicians and pet owners.

Our rationale for investing is as follows:

1.     Scale and market opportunity: The scale and opportunity present in the market both locally and globally has in no small part driven our decision to invest. In the US alone, 2 out 3 homes own a pet and spending on veterinary care is growing at a CAGR of 9.5% with a market size of $150b annually. In the MENA region we see a transition towards increased pet ownership and a trend in increased spending on veterinary care, where pet ownership in the UAE alone has grown by 30% over the past few years, and the MENA pet care industry is estimated to reach over $2b by 2025. While spend has increased significantly, the digitization of the space has lagged creating an opportunity for Mascotte to define the industry’s new digital first direction for all stakeholders in the space.

2.     Opportunity for multiple business models and adjacent products/services: Veterinary care is at the center of a wider value chain including insurance and supplements (a market in the US valued at $85b) annually. By building a product that will help enhance the experience of clinicians and pet owners, Mascotte will eventually be in a prime position to expand into other related products and services building on their core SaaS platform that connects the clinics with the consumer.

3.     Global scale: There are few companies that we see in our region that can potentially straddle multiple geographies and given the nature of the product being built we see how Mascotte will be able to operate in multiple geographies simultaneously and potentially address a more global audience.

4.     Commitment to the space: We have known the team at Mascotte for some years now and a continuing theme has been their unmatched passion for the pet care space at large and have been experimenting on how to drive value in the space for some time.

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5. Founders: Most importantly, we are backing whom we believe is one of the most promising founders that we have come across in our market. With his unique experience both on the entrepreneurship side and on the investing side, Bora and the team have the ability to build a truly globally leading SaaS and consumer experience.