Offleash'd, a Seattle-based dating and social app for pet parents, is looking to raise money after launching on Monday.
The five-person startup is looking to raise money this summer and hopes to follow that with another raise in January, Offleash'd Chief Operating Officer Terry James said. The company, which is currently remote, will look to add office space in Seattle after the summer raise.
"We'll probably be somewhere in downtown Seattle," James said. "Maybe the South Lake Union area or somewhere around there. We haven't decided fully where that office location will be."
Offleash'd functions much like a standard dating app, allowing users to upload photos and share their interests but also showcase their pets. The social function, meanwhile, offers a way for pet parents to get together without the dating aspect. In addition to dogs and cats, pet parents can bond over animals like horses, fish and reptiles.
Founders to Watch: Founding a company can be a daunting venture that entails long days and a heavy dose of uncertainty. For every Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, there are hundreds of would-be innovators toiling in obscurity. It’s not an endeavor for the fainthearted, to say the least. In May, we highlighted founders at 22 Washington startups who have set out to create something on their own and garnered the interest and investments of funders.
Julian Alvarez (right) and his brother Juan Alvarez (left) are the co-founders of Logixboard, a startup that makes customer experience software for freight forwarders. The five-year-old company moved to Seattle from Miami in 2019 to join the Techstars Seattle accelerator. Since then, it has raised rounds of $13 million last year and $32 million in January.
OwnTrails co-founder and CEO Rebekah Bastian spent more than 14 years at Zillow before launching her startup in 2020. OwnTrail is a social media platform that allows women and non-binary individuals to share their life paths and explore others’ paths to find inspiration and mentorship. She told the Business Journal in 2021 that 67% of OwnTrails' investors are women and 48% are people of color.
Ozan Unlu is the co-founder and CEO of Edge Delta, a startup that helps manage massive amounts of data companies for analysis. Unlu founded the startup in 2018 and has grown it to more than 100 employees, about half of whom are based in the Seattle office at Columbia Center. In May, Edge Delta announced it had raised a $63 million Series B round.
Melinda Haughey, left, and Chelsey Roney are the co-founders of Proxi, which focuses on technology that allows individuals, businesses and nonprofits to create customized maps to share local destinations with their networks. The Bellevue-based startup, which launched in 2020, graduated from the Techstars accelerator program in February after raising $1.2 million.
Carey Armstrong is the co-founder of real estate fintech startup Tomo, which raised a $40 million Series A round in March. Armstrong, who was a vice president at Zillow, co-founded Tomo in 2020 with Greg Schwartz, another former Zillow executive. Tomo originates mortgage loans and provides a discount for buyers who work with a Tomo brokerage agent.
Shipium co-founder and CEO Jason Murray spent nearly two decades at Amazon before founding his startup in 2019. The Seattle-based logistics technology startup raised a $27.5 million Series A round in April. Shipium uses machine learning to help e-commerce clients offer better shipping experiences.
One More Game co-founders Patrick Wyatt, left, and Jamie Winsor launched in 2019. The Seattle-based gaming studio raised a $22 million Series A round in April with backing from Silicon Valley heavyweight Andreessen Horowitz.
Rathna Sharad co-founded Flavorcloud, which helps brands navigate international shipping, in 2018. The startup tripled its number of customers and quadrupled its revenue in 2020 during the pandemic. FlavorCloud automates processes tied to international shipping for its clients, which include Firefly Chocolate and TomboyX. Sharad co-founded her first startup called Runway2Street in 2012. That company offered a marketplace for small- and medium-sized brands to sell internationally.
Alejandro Chouza (left), Ryan Frazier (middle) and Kenny Carson are the co-founders of Arrived Homes, which launched in 2019. Arrived Homes allows people to invest in rental properties with the goal of making income through quarterly returns. The startup announced a $25 million Series A round in May, following up on a $37 million round in June 2021 that included $10 million in equity financing and $27 million in debt financing.
Jacqueline "Jackie" Schafer founded Clearbrief in 2020. The Seattle startup uses AI to check legal briefs against source documents, helping lawyers see where their arguments are supported and where their opponents might be on flimsy footing. With Schafer as CEO, the company has attracted investments from preeminent venture capital firms like Madrona Venture Group and Sequoia.
Sarah Haggard, pictured second from the right with her leadership team, is the CEO and founder of Tribute, a peer-to-peer mentorship app that allows users to connect based on goals and experiences. The Seattle startup, which announced a $1.5 million funding round in October 2021, launched in 2019 and counts Seattle heavyweights Zillow and Remitly as clients.
Luis Ceze is the co-founder and CEO of OctoML, a Seattle-based machine learning startup. The company spawned from research that began at the University of Washington about six years ago, but the company incorporated in 2019. In November 2021, OctoML raised $85 million in a Series C round, attracting big-name investors like Tiger Global Management and Madrona Venture Group.
Daryl Hok is the founder and CEO of Seattle-based fintech startup Seashell, which announced a $6 million seed round in January. The startup, which was founded in 2018, has garnered backing from celebrity billionaire Mark Cuban and Robinhood co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev. Seashell offers users up to 10% interest through its savings app by investing in assets like digital currency and gold.
Cloud Paper co-founders Austin Watkins, left, and Ryan Fritsch launched their sustainable paper products company in 2019. Cloud Paper, which makes tree-free toilet paper and paper towels, has attracted big-name investors in a relatively short time. It raised $5 million in February with backing from Bezos Expeditions, Marc Benioff's Time Ventures, Presight Capital, Ashton Kutcher's Soundwaves and former Amazon executive Jeff Wilke. Previous investors include including Gwyneth Paltrow, Ciara, Russell Wilson, Mark Cuban and Robert Downey Jr.'s Footprint Coalition Fund.
Ben Kinney is the co-founder of Bellingham-based real estate tech startup Place, which raised a $100 million Series A in November 2021, putting its value at more than $1 billion. Place achieved "unicorn" status, or a value of at least $1 billion, rather quickly, as the company was founded in 2020. It works with real estate agents to offer solutions in marketing, accounting, legal and human resources.
Copper co-founders Stefan Berglund, left, and Eddie Behringer raised a $29 million Series A round in April. The Seattle startup, the maker of a teen banking app, closed a $13.3 million seed round in October 2021. Behringer and Berglund previously co-founded Snap! Raise, a fundraising startup that allows teams and clubs to raise money online.
Leen Kawas, the former CEO of Bothell-based biotech Athira Pharma, is the co-founder of an equity investment firm focused on life sciences called Propel Bio Partners, which launched in March. The firm intends to focus on companies that are "changing standard of care and improving quality of life." At the time of its launch, Securities and Exchange Commission documents showed Propel's total offering amount as $150 million. Kawas resigned from her role at Athira in October 2021 following controversy around her doctoral research at Washington State University.
Henry Kim is the co-founder and CEO of Swiftly, a Seattle-based retail technology startup. Swiftly, which raised a $100 million Series B round in March, provides brick-and-mortar retailers with digital tools to compete with large chains and e-commerce brands. The startup has raised $120 million to date.
Al Tearjen is the co-founder of Seize, an app that offers in-the-moment photoshoots with vetted mobile photo takers at picturesque locations. She founded the startup in 2021 with Dana Wiggins. Sieze was selected to the Techstars accelerator program in 2021.
Tony Pan and Max Mankin founded Modern Electron in 2015. Last December, the startup raised $30 million with backing from At One Ventures, Bill Gates, Invention Science Fund and Metaplanet. Modern Electron makes an attachment for heaters designed to make them more efficient, cheaper to run and less polluting.
Stefan Kalb is the co-founder of Shelf Engine, a 6-year-old startup that automates ordering for grocers. Kalb also founded the wholesale salad and sandwich business Molly's Salads in 2009. Shelf Engine was born out of seeing all the food waste at grocery stores firsthand while growing Molly's. It raised a $41 million Series B round last year.
Pradnya Desh, a former U.S. diplomat, launched Advocat AI in 2019. The Bellevue-based startup is an AI-guided contract generation software platform designed for legal departments with the goal of reducing the workload for in-house attorneys. In 2021, Advocat AI and Desh took top honors at the San Diego Angel Conference.
Courtesy of Pradnya Desh
The startup makes money through a subscription fee as well as additional fees for users to boost their profiles and get more attention. Offleash'd also makes money through advertisers on its app. Eventually, James said, the startup plans to feature a marketplace for pet parents to buy pet supplies.
Offleash'd is entering a crowded dating app market that already includes well-established heavyweights like Tinder, Bumble and Match.com. The startup is betting on the size of both the pet market and the dating market, James said, with the goal of providing a dating and social app where users already have something in common.
Offleash'd founder and CEO Manish Methai bonded with his wife over her dog, Guddee.
Offleash'd
Offleash'd founder and CEO Manish Methai met his wife through a dating app and was fortunate enough to have her dog, a half-Maltese and half-Shih Tzu named Guddee, like him. The couple bonded over Guddee, and Methai figured if pets can be this important to love, there might be a good way to facilitate that online.
Methai shared his idea with James after a game of basketball, and they got to work.
Three of the company's five employees are based in Seattle. Offleash'd plans to hire after it raises money this summer, particularly in tech and marketing roles. Although the app is available anywhere in the U.S., James said Offleash'd is focusing its marketing spend in the Seattle area but is planning to expand that to Los Angeles next.
"Right now, it's about building this community," James said. "The only way the app is successful is if you have active users who are building that community alongside us."
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