Leap Venture Academy is pleased to announce the 11 semi-finalists for our 2020 Leap Pet Project Pitch competition. The startups are providing services and products to problems ranging from health and nutrition to travel and grooming. Innovation in pet care continues to attract talent from around the world — three of the semi-finalists are from outside North America.

The semi-finalists will compete for $25k in prize money. The startups will also receive mentorship and critical feedback to help accelerate their ideas into a thriving business.

The top five finalists will compete during a virtual live event on August 18th at 10am PT. Register here. This will be Leap’s seventh pitch competition since 2018.

The Semi-Finalists Include:

• The Bark Shoppe (New York City)
  The Bark Shoppe is reimagining the pet grooming industry, creating solutions that address each pets’ individual needs.
• Belopet (Mexico City)
  Belopet is a one stop shop for pet-care, offering products, prizes, accessories, walks, veterinary services or cosmetic services.
• Booking.vet (Ft. Lauderdale)
  Booking.vet is Yelp for veterinarians, helping pet parents find vets meeting their needs & schedule appointments online at the practice or via telemedicine.
• Bubby (Los Angeles)
  Bubby is dual-sided marketplace for pet parents and dog trainers, enabling users to find and offer dog training services remotely or in person worldwide.
• Hound (Denver)
  Hound is a job search platform and applicant tracking system to support veterinary hospitals in America.
• Kibus (Catalonia, Spain)
  Kibus is the first home appliance that cooks healthy pet food.
• Mella Pet Care (Chicago)
  Mella Pet Care builds accessible technology and diagnostic products for veterinarians and pet parents to better understand and keep track of pet health.
• Save All the Pets (Washington DC)
  Save All the Pets transports animals from shelters where they may face euthanasia to places there are likely to be adopted quickly.
• Super Pet Foods (Berkeley)
  Super Pet Foods uses nutritious, sustainable black soldier fly larvae in a dehydrated form to replace conventional, resource-intensive protein sources found in traditional dog food.
• Virtuwoof (Minneapolis)
  Virtuwoof is a telehealth platform for mobile and web that enables virtual visits and includes robust reporting capabilities.
• WoofTogether (Athens, Greece)
  WoofTogether designs and produces premium equipment for pet-friendly hotels and vacation rental properties, training, pet policies and pet-friendly certification.

The prize money will be split between the top three finalists and can be transformative to an early stage startup. Michael Bevis, CEO of KoolSkinz, a second place winner at the 2020 Pet Project at NAVC said “from the $5,000 prize money we were able to create and implement an effective online marketing strategy that is driving significant traffic for KoolSkinz.”

Leap has a strong history of investing in both winners and finalists through our Leap Venture Studio. Previous winners, including Scratch Pay and Lacuna Diagnostics, have gone on to be major disruptors in the pet care industry.

We look forward to continued interaction between these startups and Leap as they all work to shape a smarter world for pets & their people. If you are working on a startup idea, check out our events to help you get to the next level.

Reminder to register here to watch the top five finalists will compete during a virtual live event on August 18th at 10am PT.