Helping a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) with due diligence on a dog-care start-up

Posted by | Fuld & Company

Background and Challenge

A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) was looking to raise funds for a start-up working in the dog care ecosystem. Since the start-up already operated in a few states in the US, funding was required to aid expansion across the country. The client wanted to conduct a market study/due-diligence exercise to understand the rate of adoption of dogs and pets, along with other areas such as the addressable market for dog care services, trends in the dog care industry, and key players in the industry trends about Millennials, who are shaping up to be the biggest spenders in the dog care category.

The company asked Fuld & Company’s business research team to gather relevant insights and intelligence into the dog care industry to enable them to make an informed investment case for the start-up.

Approach

We adopted an all-encompassing research process that involved the following three steps:

Desk research

Our business research team conducted in-depth research on the dog care market, covering aspects such as ownership of dogs/pets in the US, addressable market size, and trends. As dog care is still a niche industry, the market size information was not available in the public domain. To address this gap and estimate the total market size, our team estimated the addressable market for different dog care services, such as dog walking, dog boarding, dog grooming, and dog bars and parks. Apart from market size, the team also identified and studied the leading players in the industry and benchmarked them based on the services offered. The team also studied trends and other growth areas such as pet insurance, pet accessories, and pet funeral services.

Quantitative survey

We also conducted a quantitative survey with dog owners in the US to understand their preference for various dog care service providers, spending behavior, frequency of visits, and key considerations for selecting an external center for dog care and socialization services, among other behavioral trends. We analyzed the survey findings to gain insights into aspects such as the net promoter score of industry players, the average frequency of visits to dog care service providers and trends about Millennials.

Expert discussions

In addition to desk research and fielding a quantitative survey, we held discussions with senior executives in the dog and pet care industry to gain deeper insights into the key trends and addressable market. These discussions helped the team fill any gaps from the desk research and verify other findings from both the desk research and survey. The team prepared a detailed discussion guide for navigating the expert discussions and ensuring a smooth flow of conversation and meaningful insights.

The Outcome

The information provided by Fuld & Company provided the client with key insights on some of the critical areas needed for pitch presentations. The analysis was well received by the client’s stakeholders, as it verified their hypotheses about the market and the trends around the growing popularity of dog care services. This enabled the company to put together a compelling case for attracting funding to support the growth plans of the start-up.

Tags: Business & Industry Research, dog care, Field Research, Financial Equity and M&A Research, Financial Services, Funds, investments, Market Analysis, Market Insights, Market Intelligence, Market Research, start-up