Wag
Wag! is a publicly traded US mobile marketplace (NASDAQ: PET) connecting 5M+ pet parents with 500K+ independent caregivers for dog walking, sitting, boarding, and daycare services across all 50 states, monetizing via a 40% booking commission.
- Company typePublic
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersMountain View, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Wag does
Wag! (legal entity Wag Labs, Inc., publicly traded as Wag! Group Co. on NASDAQ under ticker PET) operates a two-sided mobile marketplace connecting pet parents with independent pet caregivers for on-demand dog walking, drop-in visits, pet sitting, overnight boarding, and daycare services. The platform is delivered via native iOS and Android applications and a web booking interface, with a registered user base of approximately 5 million pet parents and a supply side of 500,000+ verified caregivers operating across 5,300+ cities in all 50 US states. Functional capabilities include real-time GPS walk tracking, in-app messaging, photo and video updates during care sessions, and the Wag! Guarantee, which provides up to $25,000 in coverage for veterinary and property incidents.
The company monetizes primarily through a 40% commission fee on each completed booking, deducted from caregiver earnings—a materially higher take rate than competitor Rover's approximately 20%. Recent product extensions include Wag! Wellness (subscription wellness and pet insurance), Vet Chat (veterinary telehealth), and Wag! Premium (subscription tier with enhanced features). Beyond the core marketplace, Wag! has expanded vertically through acquisitions: Dog Food Advisor ($9M, January 2023) added a dog food marketplace and recommendation engine, WoofWoofTV (February 2024) added a pet-focused social media brand for content and audience, and Furmacy (August 2022) added veterinary telehealth infrastructure. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with 101–250 employees, and is publicly listed following a $10 million secondary offering in July 2024 at $1.35 per share.
Wag!'s customer base is purely consumer-facing, with no enterprise contracts or B2B channels identified. Go-to-market is product-led and self-serve, relying on app store distribution, SEO-driven content marketing, and organic social media presence. The company's scale—16 million+ completed services and a 4.8/5 rating across 42,000 reviews—demonstrates operating traction, but financial disclosures show persistent unprofitable unit economics, and the company has used capital markets (notably a $300M SoftBank-led Series D in 2018 and the 2024 secondary) to fund expansion and debt service rather than achieve standalone profitability.
Wag firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Wag
- Legal name
- Wag Labs, Inc.
- Website
- https://wagwalking.com
- Company type
- Public
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Wag! is a publicly traded US mobile marketplace (NASDAQ: PET) connecting 5M+ pet parents with 500K+ independent caregivers for dog walking, sitting, boarding, and daycare services across all 50 states, monetizing via a 40% booking commission.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Wag industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Pet Care Marketplace
- NAICS
- Pet Care (except Veterinary) Services (81291)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Pet Care & Pet Services Platforms (Sitting, Walking, Grooming) (BPAMAHAI)
Keywords
Where Wag is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Mountain View
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Wag business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Platform Commission on Bookings: Platform charges a 40% commission fee on each service booking completed through the Wag! platform, deducted from caregiver earnings. Pet parents pay the full service rate while Wag! retains its platform fee.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Service rates set by individual caregivers; Wag! takes 40% platform commission |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels4 records
Wag product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Wag! operates a mobile marketplace platform connecting pet parents with independent, background-checked pet caregivers for on-demand dog walking, drop-in visits, pet sitting, overnight boarding, and daycare services across 5,300+ cities in all 50 U.S. states. The platform retains approximately a 40% commission on each booking completed by caregivers, while pet parents pay the full service rate set by caregivers.
Product overview
Wag! operates a pet care services marketplace as a unified platform connecting pet parents with caregivers. The core offering consists of a mobile app enabling booking of dog walking, drop-in visits, sitting, boarding, and daycare services, complemented by Vet Chat telehealth consultations. The product portfolio includes subscription offerings (Wag! Premium, Wag! Wellness with pet insurance), a trust-and-safety feature (Wag! Guarantee providing up to $25,000 coverage), and educational content (Pet Care Guides, Dog Training Guides). Recent acquisitions include Dog Food Advisor (dog food marketplace, 2023) and WoofWoofTV (pet social media brand, 2024), expanding into pet food retail and media content respectively.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Dog Food Advisor: An online marketplace for dog food acquired by Wag! to expand into pet food and treats market.
- WoofWoofTV
Products and services
- Wag! App Mobile application (iOS/Android) and web platform enabling pet parents to discover, book, and manage dog walking, drop-in, sitting, boarding, and daycare services with verified caregivers, with features including GPS walk tracking, real-time photo and video updates, in-app messaging, and integrated payments.
- Dog Walking On-demand and scheduled dog walking services provided by screened, background-checked independent caregivers booked through the Wag! platform across the United States.
- Drop-In Visits Short caregiver visits to a pet owner's home to provide food, water, medication, and playtime during the day.
- Pet Sitting Pet sitting service where independent caregivers watch pets in the pet owner's home during the day or overnight.
- Boarding Overnight pet care provided at the caregiver's home for pets whose owners are traveling.
- Daycare Daytime pet care provided at the caregiver's location for pet owners needing supervision for their pets during working hours.
Quantifiable outcome
- 500K+ verified pet caregivers available nationwide
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Wag
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Wag technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability1 record
Feature4 records
Wag partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- WoofWoofTVminorWag! completed acquisition of social media brand WoofWoofTV in February 2024, marking its entry into the media space. The acquisition provides Wag! access to a large pet-loving audience and enhances its content creation capabilities.
- Dog Food AdvisorcoreWag! completed acquisition of Dog Food Advisor for $9 million in Q1 2023. Dog Food Advisor is a dog food marketplace. The acquisition aims to broaden Wag!'s service offerings in pet care and pet insurance, leveraging Dog Food Advisor's digital presence and Wag!'s pet care data.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Wag competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Rover: Direct marketplace competitor connecting pet owners with dog walkers, sitters, and boarders globally. Operates the same core dog walking/sitting/boarding marketplace model with a 20% commission rate vs Wag!'s 40%, and is the dominant player with ~2M+ users internationally versus Wag!'s ~671K.
- TrustedHousesitters: Online community and marketplace matching pet owners with house sitters who provide in-home pet care as part of house-sitting arrangements. Direct competitor to Wag!'s pet sitting and drop-in visit offerings with a subscription-based rather than per-booking model.
- PetBacker: Global pet services marketplace offering pet sitting, dog walking, boarding, and grooming across multiple countries. Competes with Wag! in the same pet care services category with a similar gig-economy provider model, though focused more on Asia-Pacific markets.
- Fetch! Pet Care: US franchise-based pet care provider offering dog walking, pet sitting, and pet taxi services. Direct competitor to Wag! with a more localized, franchise-driven model rather than a gig marketplace, competing primarily for offline pet parents and corporate accounts.
Broad incumbents
- BarkBox: Subscription-based pet product company (owned by BARK Inc.) offering monthly boxes, toys, and food. While not a direct service marketplace competitor, it competes for share-of-wallet from pet parents and overlaps in the digital pet consumer audience Wag! targets through WoofWoofTV and Dog Food Advisor.
- Chewy: Leading online pet food and supplies retailer. Broad incumbent in pet commerce; its scale in pet food and pharmacy competes directly with the Dog Food Advisor acquisition's addressable market.
- Petco: Large specialty pet retailer offering grooming, training, vet care, and in-store services. Broad incumbent competing for the same pet parent wallet share through bundled services, training, and in-store pet care that overlaps with Wag!'s daycare and walking offerings.
Emerging players
- Vetster: Online marketplace for veterinary telehealth appointments connecting pet owners with licensed veterinarians. Emerging player in pet telehealth that overlaps with Wag!'s Vet Chat offering, and competes for the same vet-related monetization opportunity.
- Holistapet: Direct-to-consumer pet wellness brand offering CBD products and supplements. Adjacent player in the pet wellness category that intersects with Wag! Wellness and pet insurance offerings, and competes for the natural/wellness-conscious segment of Wag!'s user base.
- Pawp: Digital pet health platform offering 24/7 veterinary telehealth and an emergency fund product. Emerging player that directly competes with Wag!'s Vet Chat and Wag! Wellness insurance bundle, pursuing a similar strategy of monetizing pet parents beyond a single service.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Wag social profiles
Digital presenceWag financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Wag leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Wag subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries2 records
Wag funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds9 records
Investors18 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Wag M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A3 records
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Wag
What does Wag do?
Wag! operates a mobile marketplace platform connecting pet parents with independent, background-checked pet caregivers for on-demand dog walking, drop-in visits, pet sitting, overnight boarding, and daycare services across 5,300+ cities in all 50 U.S. states. The platform retains approximately a 40% commission on each booking completed by caregivers, while pet parents pay the full service rate set by caregivers.
Is Wag a public or private company?
Wag is a public company. It is classified as public and is currently operating.
When was Wag founded?
Wag was founded in 2015. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Wag based?
Wag is headquartered in Mountain View, United States, in the North America region.
How does Wag make money?
One revenue line is on record: platform Commission on Bookings.
Who are Wag's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Rover, TrustedHousesitters, PetBacker and Fetch! Pet Care. Broad incumbents are BarkBox, Chewy and Petco. Emerging players are Vetster, Holistapet and Pawp.
Does Wag have an API?
No public API is recorded for Wag.
What industry is Wag in?
Wag's product category is Pet Care Marketplace. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAHAI, Pet Care & Pet Services Platforms (Sitting, Walking, Grooming). Its NAICS code is 81291.