SAN FRANCISCO– Wag Labs, Inc. (“Wag!” or the “Company”), an American pet services marketplace company powering a mobile-first technology platform that enables on-demand and scheduled dog walking, training, and other pet care services, and CHW (NASDAQ: CHWA), a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger or similar business combination with one or more businesses, today announced the signing of a definitive business combination agreement.
CHW is focused within the consumer and retail sectors and is led by Jonah Raskas and Mark Grundman, who serve as Co-CEOs, as well as Paul Norman, who serves as President. Upon the closing of the transaction, the combined company is expected to be named Wag! Group Co. and is expected to be listed on the Nasdaq under the new ticker symbol “PET”.
Wag! is a vertically integrated technology platform, offering access to, among other services, on-demand dog walking, pet sitting, drop-in visits, consultations with licensed pet experts and both in-person and digital training services across 4,600 cities in all 50 states, in addition to subscription and insurance comparison offerings. Wag!’s platform has over 350,000 approved pet caregivers across the U.S., has completed over 11 million services through the platform, and has delivered over $300 million total bookings to date. Wag! provides an exceptional experience to its users, creating a highly loyal and engaged user base with a wealth of data to improve its cross-selling and inform its offering extensions. The Company has experienced substantial growth since its inception due to its proven ability to diversify its addressable market to unlock new spending opportunities, demonstrated by its recent launch of subscription offerings and expansion into wellness services in 2021.
Wag! is a leader in providing access to on-demand pet services and is transforming the pet industry by simplifying pet care. Leading with its mobile-first platform and a foundation built on data science and automation capabilities, Wag! is consolidating the pet wellness and services industries online and through its mobile app.
Approximately 70% of U.S. households own pets, which equates to approximately 90.5 million homes. As a rapidly expanding company in the large and durable pet wellness and services market, Wag! expects to achieve revenues of $42 million in 2022, a 120% year-over-year growth rate from 2021. With a 90% rebooking rate and a Net Promoter ScoreSM (NPS)1 between 65 and 70 for pet parents and 45 to 55 for pet caregivers, Wag! has created a compelling and trusted consumer brand. The Company will continue to be led by its CEO, Garrett Smallwood, and its President and Chief Product Officer, Adam Storm.
This transaction will support Wag!’s mission to make pet ownership more accessible and to bring joy to pets and those who love them, by accelerating the online consolidation of the $44 billion pet wellness and services industries. With its compelling consumer brand, loyal user base and vertically integrated technology platform, Wag! is well positioned to become the number one pet well-being marketplace.
Garrett Smallwood, Chief Executive Officer of Wag!, stated: “Our announcement today represents a significant milestone in our journey to build the leading premium wellness and services platform for pets. We are transforming the fragmented and largely offline pet wellness and services industries through our vertically integrated mobile-first technology platform. This deal will provide us with the funds to further fuel our growth, and I am excited to be partnering with the CHW team to accelerate our strategic initiatives and consolidate pet wellness and services as we strive to become the leader in this space.”
Jonah Raskas, Co-CEO of CHW, commented: “We are incredibly pleased by the opportunity to partner with Wag! on this exciting journey. Wag!’s strong leadership brings proven experience, and we are thrilled to be supporting this team, trusted brand and attractive platform. We are confident in Wag!’s ability to accelerate its momentum by executing against its proven growth strategies and consolidating this attractive market. We look forward to working with Garrett and his team.”
