BarkBox

Bark & Co. (BarkBox)
Type of business E-commerce subscription service
Headquarters New York City, New York, U.S.
Area served USA and Canada
Founder(s) Matt Meeker, Henrik Werdelin, and Carly Strife
CEO Matt Meeker
Key people Cathie Black
Employees 54
Website www.barkbox.com
Launched December 2011 (2011-12)

Bark & Co. (BarkBox) is a New York-based provider of pet-themed products and technology known for its monthly subscription service BarkBox, which has approximately 200,000 monthly subscribers.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] The company also operates the dog-themed content site BarkPost, the photo-sharing app BarkCam, and BarkBuddy, a "Tinder for Dogs."[8][9][10][11] Matt Meeker, Henrik Werdelin, and Carly Strife are the founders.[1][6]

History

BarkBox

CEO Matt Meeker, Henrik Werdelin, and Carly Strife founded BarkBox in December 2011.[1][2][3][6][9][10][12] The inspiration for BarkBox arose when co-founder Matt Meeker failed to find retailers in New York City who sold products tailored to dogs of all sizes, specifically his 150 lb. Great Dane Hugo.[2][12][13][14][15] Prior to co-founding BarkBox, Matt Meeker co-founded the social networking site Meetup.com.[1][7][9][15]

Bark & Co

The company rebranded to Bark & Co. in April 2013 after raising $6.7M in venture funding.[6][9][16] The company used the funds to diversify its products, adding the dog-themed content sites BarkPost and PuppyFeed to their repertoire.[9][10] The company surpassed the $25 million revenue run rate the same year.[16] Bark & Co. received an additional $15 Million in Series B funding led by Resolute.vc, along with RRE, BoxGroup, Lerer Ventures, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, Slow Ventures, Daher Capital, CAA, Vast Ventures, and City National Bank in 2014.[3][4]

Forbes Magazine named BarkBox as the one of the top 20 companies to follow on social media.[17]

Bark & Co. launched BarkCam in early 2014, a photo sharing app which operates as an "Instagram for dogs" and their owners.[11]

Products and services

BarkBox

Bark & Co.’s flagship product, BarkBox, is a monthly subscription service which caters to dogs and “dog parents.”[9][10][18] Each BarkBox typically contains 4-6 items including bones, toys, treats, accessories, and designed-for-pet dental and health products which have been tested by the company’s on-staff vet.[12] Subscribers can sign up for 1, 3, 6, or 12 month subscriptions.[2][3][12][13][15][18][19][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]

10% of BarkBox proceeds go to local shelters, rescues, and animal welfare organizations.[2][14][18][20][23][24][25]

BarkPost

BarkPost is a dog-themed content site similar to BuzzFeed's “Cute” section.[7][10][12][12][15][26][26] The site has over 3M unique visitors each month.[16] The site works in tandem with PuppyFeed, a dedicated webspace where dog owners can share dog photos and videos.[15]

BarkCam

BarkCam is a photo-sharing app, similar to a dog version of Instagram, available for iOS.[11] Users can choose from a variety of built-in sounds, designed to grab the pets' attention, which users activate by tapping the camera shutter.[3] Users can then add text, filters, stickers and chat bubbles to the photo to share on social media platforms.[11]

BarkBuddy

Bark & Co. has also launched BarkBuddy, which is similar to a "Tinder for dogs," as users can swipe left or right depending on their level of interest in the dog.[3][8][27][28] The free app, available for iPhone and Android,[29] is designed to match humans with dogs up for adoption at nearby shelters, and users can filter choices by gender, location, activity level, age, and size.[29] The app is connected to rescue centers and shelters across the United States and Canada, and there are approximately 300,000 dogs in the database.[3][8][28][29] The app sources many of its adoptable dogs from the pet adoption website Petfinder and from Bark & Co’s personal network of shelters and rescue organizations.[27][28]

Co-founders

Matt Meeker is the co-founder of Meetup and former runner of Dogpatch Labs NY.[7] He has founded four startups in total, but BarkBox is his first position as CEO.[1][9][15]

Henrik Werdelin founded Prehype, a New York City-based venture development firm which worked closely with Matt Meeker and Carly Strife to develop BarkBox.[30]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Sarah E. Needleman (22 March 2013). "Are You Ready to Go From Founder to Top Dog". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Sadie Whitelocks (19 September 2013). "Mail dogs CAN get their teet into!". Daily Mail UK. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sarah Perez (11 July 2014). "Doggie-Focused Bark & Co (BarkBox) Raises $15 Million Series B". TechCrunch. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  4. 1 2 Dan Primack (14 July 2014). "Deals of the day: Mylan finds its tax inversion partner". Fortune. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  5. ↑ Sheila Marikar (11 July 2014). "Turning 'Likes' Into a Career". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "BarkBox Founder Matt Meeker is Building A Community for Man's Best Friend". The Huffington Post. 28 July 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Alyson Shontell (10 July 2013). "BarkBox Generates $1 Million Per Month, Wants To Become A $5 Billion Company in 5 Years". Business Insider. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 Laura Stampler (20 May 2014). "Sick of the People on Dating Apps? Now There's a Tinder for Dogs". Time. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lauren Drell (20 August 2013). "Top Dog: BarkBox's Mission to Reinvent the Pet Industry". Mashable. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 "Making Millions of Man's Best Friend". Bloomberg Television. Retrieved Jul 28, 2014.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Karissa Bell (Jul 16, 2014). "BarkCam Helps the Pet-Obsessed Take Better Dog Portraits". Mashable. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Like to Spoil Your Dog? BarkBox May Be for You". Bloomberg Television. 2013. Retrieved Jul 28, 2014.
  13. 1 2 Jill Martin (28 September 2013). "Pet projects: How US retailers are going to the dogs". BBC. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  14. 1 2 Angela Swartz (Jul 3, 2013). "BarkBox's Matt Meeker Has Big Plans for Pet Projects". All Things Digital. Retrieved Jul 28, 2014.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Obsessed with your dog? BarkBoxreleases photo-sharing forum for pet owners (exclusive)". Retrieved Jul 28, 2014.
  16. 1 2 3 Erin Griffith (Oct 25, 2013). "Mock all you want: Barbox is laughing all the way to the bank". PandoDaily. Retrieved Jul 28, 2014.
  17. ↑ Ilya Pozin (6 March 2014). "20 Companies You Should Be Following on Social Media". Forbes. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  18. 1 2 3 "Fox and Friends Saturday". Fox News. March 23, 2013. Retrieved Jul 28, 2014.
  19. 1 2 Amanda Waas (Apr 15, 2013). "Are You Obsessed With Your Dog". Parade. Retrieved Jul 28, 2014.
  20. 1 2 Elizabeth Harper (Dec 6, 2013). "10 Great Gift Box Subscriptions". Time. Retrieved Jul 28, 2014.
  21. ↑ Stacy Jones (11 November 2013). "Are You A Dog Owner Or A Dog Parent? This CEO Wants to Know". Fast Company. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  22. ↑ Sheila McClear (Aug 5, 2013). "Subscription boxes bring the whole package: Regular service, no shopping and goods of all kinds". New York Daily News. Retrieved Jul 28, 2014.
  23. 1 2 Danielle Bufalini; Allison Hatfield; DeAnna Janes (Apr 16, 2013). "ShopTalk 23 Pet Products to Purr About". Daily Candy. Retrieved Jul 28, 2014.
  24. 1 2 Valerie Rains (2013). "8 Surprising Subscription Box Ideas". Real Simple. Retrieved Jul 28, 2014.
  25. 1 2 Kathleen Mulpeter (Feb 14, 2014). "14 Fun Subscription Boxes to Match Your Personality". All You. Retrieved Jul 28, 2014.
  26. 1 2 Jillian D’Onfro (Oct 2013). "BarkBox Adds Media-Maven and 'Dog Parent' Cathie Black TO Its Board". Business Insider. Retrieved Jul 28, 2014.
  27. 1 2 Sarah Perez (May 27, 2014). "BarkBuddy is A Tinder for Dogs". TechCrunch. Retrieved Aug 6, 2014.
  28. 1 2 3 Kelly Faircloth (May 27, 2014). "There's Finally a Tinder for Adoptable Dogs". Jezebel. Retrieved Aug 6, 2014.
  29. 1 2 3 Amy Eley (May 29, 2014). "Tinder for dogs? BarkBuddy app matches pet lovers with local rescues". Today. Retrieved Aug 6, 2014.
  30. ↑ Saya Weissman (Aug 13, 2012). "Building the Brand: BarkBox". Digiday. Retrieved Jul 28, 2014.
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