Alternative Boarding Site Raises $1 Million to Fund Expansion

Alternative Boarding Site Raises $1 Million to Fund Expansion Los Angeles-based Dog Vacay, an online site that allows pet owners to find home-based boarders and other dog service providers, raised $1 million in seed funding to help it expand nationally in a financing round led by Santa Monica, Calif. Jones, former CEO of Myspace. com, SnakeVacay. com, BirdVacay. The site also charges the same service fee for other services it lists, including dog walkers, trainers, day care providers and pet sitters. "First Round Capital looks for innovative ways the web can disrupt large and inefficient markets, especially those with high rates of dissatisfaction, like dog boarding," said Howard Morgan, managing partner at First Round. Dog Vacay also provides medical insurance to boarded dogs, screens dog hosts, and provides emergency support to both hosts and customers, the company said. Service fees go down the more business a host books. The company said more than 3,000 people had applied to become dog hosts on Dog Vacay, with about 1,000 accepted to date. "The response to Dog Vacay has been overwhelming, and we're seeing tremendous demand to offer the service across the country," said Aaron Hirschhorn, founder and CEO of Dog Vacay. As part of the funding, Morgan and Science Inc. Science Inc. Dog hosts set their own prices. com and HamsterVacay. com, FishVacay. In addition to going national, the company has also registered related domains, including CatVacay. backed the March 1, 2012, launch of Pet Vacay, the company reported. Alternative Boarding Site Raises $1 Million to Fund Expansion Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 20/03/2012