Leap Venture Academy is excited to announce the 15 startups participating in its second annual Bootcamp, from September 21–25. This year’s bootcamp is focused on amplifying the ideas of early stage startup CEOs and founders who identify as female and/or as a person of color.

Leap Venture Academy’s Bootcamp is a free weeklong startup program for underrepresented pet care entrepreneurs working on an early stage idea or company. Over the course of the week, founders will participate in a variety of programs including: classes, workshops, and fireside chats. All programs are aimed at helping early stage pet care startups get to the next stages in their business.

Pet care startups across the globe were invited to apply for this year’s virtual Bootcamp. The 15 participating companies represent the most promising startups in the pet care industry. They include:

• 5 Element Pet Food Therapy (Oakland, CA) specializes in holistically inspired, whole fresh food supplements for dogs and cats. Each recipe is labeled, and aimed to treat specific symptoms. These supplements are perfect as a topper to your pet’s food.
• Adoptimize (Los Angeles, CA) is an animal shelter software that automates pet photos from a video to increase adoption rates and reduce operating costs for shelters.
• Doggo Health (Toronto, Canada) is a digital health companion app to easily check pet symptoms and get a personalized assessment. Doggo Health aims to improve the way dog owners get health advice.
• Dog Park Production (New York, NY) is a design firm for pet play spaces. This startup makes 3D printed dog park furniture as well as designs, furnishes and curates off-leash areas for dogs and their humans to spend time in.
• Likarda (Kansas City, MO) is a cell therapy company developing next generation products for pets and humans that suffer from diseases like diabetes or osteoarthritis. Likarda is creating a better way to manage canine and feline diabetes.
• MaryMac’s Doggie Retreat (New Orleans, LA) is a boutique doggie daycare and spa, specializing in overly anxious dogs. Since starting MaryMac’s, owner Courtney D. McWilliams, has begun to create her own line of dog shampoo and conditioner to treat dogs with skin allergies and hot spots.
• Mella (Chicago, IL) builds accessible technology and diagnostic products for veterinarians and pet parents to better understand and keep track of pet health. Their first product is a smartphone-enabled, AI-assisted, non-rectal thermometer that measures temperature via the foreleg (axillary) of a dog or cat.
• Milo (Ontario, Canada) is a comprehensive app for creating, launching and managing preventative healthcare plans for veterinary practices. Milo helps both veterinarians and pet parents.
• petNmind Naturals (Coconut Creek, FL) is a holistic, natural brick and mortar pet supply store brand that focuses on educating pet parents on nutrition and pet hygiene. petNmind Naturals compliments the pet parent education with the high quality products and services that they offer.
• Petventive Care (Boston, MA) is a diagnostic laboratory for pets that is focused on preventive care. With Petventive Care, blood tests are processed to obtain an overview of the pet’s health and assess whether there are underlying conditions that can be treated at an early stage.
• Relief Rover (Bradenton, FL) is a national, membership-based platform that connects veterinarians and nurses to job opportunities, each other, resources, and service providers who can help them grow their businesses.
• The Bark Shoppe (New York, NY) is a premier pet care facility with its own signature line of grooming products. They are currently expanding — building out a fleet of mobile grooming trucks.
• VetCase (Montevideo, Uruguay) is a web platform that connects pet parents and primary care vets with specialists all over the world through telemedicine. VetCase facilitates communication to make faster, more accurate treatment decisions.
• Wildcat (San Francisco, CA) creates hyper-functional and versatile cat products that create joy and beauty in the home. Launching in 2020, their products are inspired by colors and forms found in nature, as a way to bring the outdoors in for cats to enjoy.
• Woof Together (Athens, Greece) designs and produces premium equipment for pet-friendly hotels and vacation rental properties, to accommodate travelers with pets.

Each day of the weeklong bootcamp will have a specific focus: branding & messaging, growth, fundraising, leadership, and diversity, equity, & inclusion. Experienced pet care founders and industry experts will provide speaking engagements as well as offer 1:1 mentorship sessions to the startups. Previous Leap Venture Academy Bootcamp participants include Pet Hospice, Dogdrop, and Dig.

If you are interested in supporting the program, please email leapventurestudio@gmail.com

Leap Venture Academy Bootcamp is joint initiative between Michelson Found Animal Foundation and Kinship, a division of Mars Petcare.