Pawlytics

Pet care will soon be a $200 billion global industry. This includes animal shelters, veterinarians, groomers, trainers, and boarders.

But collecting, storing, and sharing animal health records is a major challenge. The system is disconnected and outdated.

Pawlytics has created a solution. It’s built a new electronic health record system for pets. This software-as-a-service streamlines vital health information, and enables clients in the pet care industry to gather, store, and share this data.

Since launching in 2018, Pawlytics has created two prototypes of its software, and helped animal shelters collect more than 15,000 health records.

Originally, this company was called Family Pet Project. Its business was aimed at helping owners “re-home” their pets safely and successfully.

To get this company up and running, the team spoke to more than 400 animal shelters and rescue organizations. Through these conversations, they learned that these care facilities were burdened by expensive, outdated software.

This software — used to process each pet that arrived at the shelter or rescue — was cumbersome, and kept employees from providing ample time and care to the animals. Furthermore, some shelters were paying as much as $20,000 a year for this software.

Upon hearing these complaints, Pawlytics pivoted its business, and changed its name, to create better software for tracking health records.

While addressing the needs of shelters and rescues specifically, Pawlytics also aimed at solving a broader issue plaguing the pet care industry: a lack of transparency with respect to sharing medical records.

For example, an owner taking their dog to the vet, the groomer, and a dog-sitter would need to provide medical records at each business. This is time-consuming for the owner, and costly for the businesses.

Pawlytics’ software makes collecting and sharing this information easy. With Pawlytics, a groomer can request and gather health records from a pet’s veterinarian, and vice versa.

The company’s software was designed to fit the exact workflow of each customer — i.e. a vet, an animal shelter, or a groomer. In other words, the software prioritizes information relevant to each specific client.

As an example, an animal rescue would see limited data points to reduce the set-up and training time for new arrivals. Animal control customers would see tools for tracking pets. And vet clinics would be able to easily access the medical history of each animal.

In April 2018, Pawlytics pitched its company at the University of Nebraska Pitch Competition. In July 2018, it created its first prototype.

In August 2018, the company’s Founder, Lizz Whitacre, completed the Y Combinator Startup School Advisor Track. And the following month, Pawlytics attended the IO Summit, a gathering of aspiring entrepreneurs.

Pawlytics currently charges animal rescues a small fee to implement its software, capture data, and create value for its future customers.

Soon, it will implement tailored subscriptions for each customer. For example, a shelter might pay $5,000 a year for its software, a vet clinic might pay $2,000, and a groomer or dog trainer might pay $1,000 a year.

Team Background

Justin Collier - Chief Technology Officer

Justin has a strong software development background. He created Pawlytics’ original website and software platform.

Most recently, he was CEO of Kiai, a technology company using natural language processing to help companies gain insights from survey results.

Prior to that, he worked as a software developer and research assistant at the University of Nebraska.

Justin began his career serving as an Airborne Cryptologic Language Analyst in the U.S. Air Force. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Nebraska and studied Data Science at Johns Hopkins.

Lizz Whitacre - Chief Executive Officer

Lizz has spent nearly a decade in the pet care industry.

She began as co-owner of Adopt-A-Pet, a company helping animals find suitable homes. As a co-owner, she led the company’s fundraising efforts and social media marketing.

From there, she worked for PetSmart, a prominent retailer of pet supplies. She then spent nearly three years as Treasurer of Revolution Rescue, an animal shelter.

In addition to leading Pawlytics, Lizz has spent the last six years as Executive Director of Progressive Animal Welfare Rescue.

She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Entrepreneurship from the University of Nebraska.

Joe Smith - Back-end Developer

Joe has 15 years of experience building and deploying software systems.

In addition to his role with Pawlytics, he’s spent the past five years as a software engineer with Cognitect, a computer software company. Before that, he worked as an independent contractor, specializing in software engineering projects.

Earlier in his career, Joe was a software engineer for UWCreations, a computer software company. Prior to that, he held the same position with Nanonation, another computer software business.

He studied Computer Engineer at the University of Nebraska.

Sara Steinkruger - Chief Customer Officer

Sara’s background includes experience in marketing and client success.

Most recently, she was a customer success and marketing manager for AccuMed HealthCare Research, a data-focused healthcare company. Prior to that, she spent nearly three years with Nationwide, an insurance company, as a claims adjuster.

Before that, she was Marketing Coordinator with Spirit Horse Ranch, where she gained exposure to animal care. Earlier, she was a marketing assistant with Shamrock Development, a real estate company.

Sara earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication from Drake University.

Co-Investors