Mad Paws

What Mad Paws does

Mad Paws is an Australian two-sided online marketplace founded in 2014 and headquartered in Sydney that connects individual pet owners with verified, independent pet sitters offering overnight hosting, in-home pet sitting, daycare, house visits, dog walking, dog grooming, and dog training services across all Australian states and territories. The platform operates as a cloud-based web and mobile application (iOS and Android), with built-in trust mechanisms including identity verification for sitters, optional police checks, a pre-booking meet-and-greet feature, and the Mad Paws Guarantee that backs every booking. The product surface was extended via the 2021 acquisition of Waggly Club and the 2022 acquisition of Pet Chemist, the latter adding a pet retail/pharmacy vertical.

Name

Mad Paws

Legal name

Mad Paws

Website

https://madpaws.com.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Mad Paws is an Australian two-sided online marketplace, founded in 2014 and headquartered in Sydney, connecting individual pet owners with verified, independent pet sitters across Australia. The platform facilitates bookings for pet hosting, sitting, daycare, walking, grooming, and training services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

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)

akta.pro secondary industry

Multi-Pet / Multi-Household In-Home Sitting (HSANAEAL)

Keywords

• Pet care marketplace
• Pet sitting services
• Dog boarding platform
• Pet care booking
• Online pet services

Headquarters

HQ city

Sydney

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Personnel

Revenue model

1. Platform Commission (Sitter Side): Mad Paws collects a 20% fee on each booking completed through the platform. This is deducted from the sitter's earnings and covers customer support, booking support, marketing, and product improvements. An additional owner fee also applies to each booking.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Mad Paws operates an Australian online marketplace that connects pet owners with a network of verified pet sitters offering pet hosting, pet sitting, dog walking, daycare, house visits, grooming, and training services. The platform enables pet owners to search, compare, and book sitters directly via its website and mobile apps, while sitters earn income by delivering in-home pet care. Mad Paws monetises the marketplace by taking a 20% commission on each completed booking plus an owner booking fee.

Product overview

Mad Paws is a single-platform marketplace offering an Australian online pet care marketplace connecting pet owners with verified pet sitters. The platform operates as a unified service marketplace supporting over 300,000 active pet owners and 70,000 pet care providers across Australia. The core Mad Paws Marketplace Platform enables pet owner-sitter matching and booking, with integrated mobile apps (iOS/Android) for on-the-go access. The platform offers specialized services including Pet Hosting (overnight at sitter's home), Pet Sitting (overnight at pet owner's home), Pet Day Care, House Visiting, Dog Walking, Dog Grooming, and Dog Training. Additional protection is provided through the Mad Paws Guarantee. The platform was acquired by Rover (US pet care company) in November 2025 and continues operating as a separate brand based in Sydney.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Mad Paws Marketplace Platform An Australian online pet care marketplace connecting pet owners with verified pet sitters across Australia, enabling search, profile browsing, booking, and management of pet care services.
• Pet Hosting

Quantifiable outcome

• 4.6 rating from over 3000 reviews on Product Review platform
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• The Sharing HubminorOthersThe Sharing Hub is listed as a partner on Mad Paws' website. The nature of the partnership appears to be related to sustainable or sharing economy initiatives, though specific details are not provided in the source material.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• TrustedHousesitters: TrustedHousesitters operates a membership-based house- and pet-sitting marketplace with international reach. Overlaps with Mad Paws on in-home pet sitting and house-sitting bundles, though monetised via subscriptions rather than per-booking commissions.
• Pawshake: Pawshake is a direct marketplace competitor operating in Australia and other markets, connecting pet owners with local pet sitters for boarding, sitting, walking, and daycare — the same core use cases as Mad Paws.
• PetBacker: PetBacker is an Asia-Pacific focused pet care marketplace offering boarding, sitting, walking, grooming, and daycare services. Directly comparable two-sided marketplace model with overlapping service catalogue.

Broad incumbents

• Wag!: Wag! is a large US-based pet care marketplace offering walking, sitting, boarding, and grooming. Comparable marketplace mechanics and service mix; primarily a US competitor but a useful benchmark for platform economics.
• Care.com: Care.com is a broad marketplace for pet care alongside child, senior, and household care. Overlaps with Mad Paws on pet sitting and dog walking and shares a marketplace commission model, though it spans multiple care verticals.
• Rover: Rover is the global category leader in pet-sitting and dog-walking marketplaces and is also Mad Paws' parent following the November 2025 acquisition. Direct functional overlap across hosting, sitting, walking, and daycare, with materially larger geographic reach.
• PetCoach (by PetSmart): PetSmart is a US pet care retail and services incumbent offering in-store grooming, training, and PetsHotel boarding. Comparable service categories but delivered through owned facilities rather than a peer-to-peer marketplace.

Others

• Airbnb: While not a direct pet-care competitor, Airbnb's Experiences and house-sitting adjacencies occasionally overlap with the in-home pet-sitting use case. Useful as a benchmark for two-sided marketplace liquidity and trust architecture.

Regional players

• Holidog: Holidog is a European pet-sitting and dog-walking marketplace. Functionally similar to Mad Paws but primarily serves France and other European markets rather than competing directly in Australia.
• DogBuddy (Barkibu): DogBuddy is a European pet care marketplace (now part of Barkibu) offering dog sitting, boarding, walking, and daycare. Comparable marketplace model but operates primarily in Europe rather than Australia.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/madpawsau
• Instagraminstagram.com/madpawsau
• Xx.com/madpawsau
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/madpaws-pty-ltd

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds7 records

Investors7 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A2 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mad Paws