Meet 7 Women Entrepreneurs Dedicating their Life to Help Our Furry Friends

By: WE Staff

With the growing trend of female entrepreneurs, what is even more impressive is the number of women choosing to step into the pet industry. Indian women entrepreneurs are leading the way and setting new standards. Here are 7 women entrepreneurs who have transformed the Indian pet care industry.

India's pet industry is expanding, as are the pet entrepreneurs here. Investing parenthood and love in a four-legged pal is not an easy task, but as pet parents all attest, it is a completely gratifying experience. Statistics also reveal that more Indians are taking up this path.

The pet care market in India is predicted to increase at a rate of 14 percent annually to reach $490 million by 2022, making it the fastest-growing in the world, according to PETEX, the largest pet industry exhibition in the country. Pet food is a major factor in the market, expected to reach $310 million by the following year.

Women in the city are at the pinnacle of their profession. With compassion, determination, and power, their entrepreneurial skills are growing into new pet ventures. These female-led enterprises provide services for pets and their guardians in the areas of feeding, healthcare, emergency care, grooming, and training. The number of pet parents in India has increased as a result of smaller families, more loneliness, couples choosing not to have children, improved earnings, and shifting attitudes toward pets. Here are some pet entrepreneurs changing the sphere and bringing pet love into homes:

Rashi Narang, HeadUpForTails

HeadUpForTails, Rashi Narang One of the first pet enterprises, Heads Up For Tails was established in 2008 by RashiNarang and has since grown to represent pet couture in India. Pet owners can choose a variety of products at HeadsUpForTails, which also offers spa and grooming services. With outlets in more than 28 Indian towns, the firm has carved out a market for itself selling everything from beds, collars, toys, and accessories to treats and grooming items. "Heads Up for Tails was founded on a deep love for pets and we are committed to focussing on their well-being. Our core team draws on their own experience as pet parents to offer (both first time and veteran) pet parents a helping paw throughout their journey," saya the founder. 

Rukmini Vaish, CollarFolk

Rukmini Vaish established CollarFolk in 2016. Being a pet owner, Rukmini was familiar with the difficulties faced by pet owners, particularly the desire to take their animals on trips and vacations but the difficulty in actually figuring out how to do it. In fact, CollarFolk does that. It makes it easier for pet owners who want to take their animals on vacation to plan and make reservations. Rukmini invested Rs10 lakh to launch the business. She graduated from Delhi University with a BA in Economics and IMT, Ghaziabad with a postgraduate degree in management. She worked in sales and marketing for eight years, specialising in consumer durables and international telecommunication. In addition to helping pet parents organise events with their cherished pets, it also features an online store with pet items.

Devanshi Shah, PetKonnect

Devanshi Shah founded PetKonnect after losing her beloved dog Hazel due to a serious medical condition. She started PetKonnect after learning that the animal-care industry has several holes as a result of the loss. PetKonnect is an extensive online community for pet owners with a base in Mumbai. A social pet network that lists veterinarians, groomers, trainers, and emergency services is available.

Shirin Merchant, Canine Can Care

Shirin Merchant, a Mumbai-based canine behaviourist, launched Canine Can Care with the goal of giving canines the best training possible in a kind way. Canine Can Care also offers dog supplies to pet owners and educates canine trainers. Shirin has also trained dogs for relief work, corporate training initiatives using dogs to teach soft skills, and rescue operations.

AnushkaIyer, Wiggles

Wiggles is an online platform for pet parents that was created in 2018 by Anushka and her father, Rajh V Iyer. It is vetted by veterinarians. It offers emergency vet services, grooming, and pet food and healthcare supplies.

The startup raised $1 million in an angel round from investors that included Rishi Tanduulwadkar, founder of Solo Stem Cell Clinic, Nachikhet Deshpande, COO of L&T Infotech, AparnaBadkundri, Director at Dell Computers, Dr. Sachin Phadke, MD of Vetbiochem India, AbhayAmrute, Senior Partner at IIFL Wealth Management Ltd., SatishBillakota, VP at Europe Cognizant Rishi Tanduulwadkar, Founder Solo Stem Cell Clinic and a few more reputed HNI’s. Anushka shared, “We have experienced 40 percent growth month-on-month once our products and services went live in June 2019 and have seen a 4x return on costs. Having started off our operations in a single city – Pune, we have now expanded our presence to Mumbai. We will soon be present in Hyderabad and Udaipur and are focussed on creating a brand with PAN India presence. We are determined and are looking forward to transforming the pet healthcare sector in India.”

ShruthiNithin, FLOAP

For Love of All Pets (FLOAP), based in Bengaluru, was established by ShruthiNithin in 2018. It is an online resource that offers a variety of services to make pet ownership simpler for parents. Soon after becoming a pet parent, Shruthi got started and discovered that the trip was fraught with difficulties.

"Pet parenting is challenging at every step, especially with busy schedules that make it difficult to do everything by ourselves. With FLOAP, one can easily overcome the struggle of finding the right information, getting multiple references, and engaging in random social media conversations," she says. 

Anupama Vinayak

 AnupamaVinayak, the author of the novel setups Pet Vacations (2006) and Furry Flyers (2008), is working to make it easier for pets to travel and relocate, an area that frequently gets overlooked because human travel commands a larger share of the market. Pets now have access to boarding, pick-up, drop-off, pet flying, and hundreds of hotels and vacation places, as well as facilities for pick-up, quarantine, and boarding. “It is a business of love and trust since we are dealing with someone’s pet child and not a dog or a cat,” Vinayak believes.