# Tractive

Tractive is an Austrian technology company that develops and sells GPS & health trackers for dogs and cats that enable pet owners to view their pet's real-time location, receive health alerts, and monitor activity and sleep patterns via a smartphone app. Tractive tracks around 1,000,000 pets in over 175 countries worldwide using GPS and GSM technology.

## History
### 2012–2018

Michael Hurnaus, together with Michael Lettner, Michael Tschernuth and the founders of adidas Runtastic - including Florian Gschwandtner - founded Tractive in October 2012. The company released its first GPS dog tracker prototype at CES 2013 in Las Vegas. Their first generation tracking devices, released in 2014, received the Innovation of the Year Award at the Austrian Future Zone Awards.
2018 saw Tractive reach a milestone of 100,000 users worldwide, as well as receive a 7-figure investment from Monkfish Equity.

### 2018–2024

Tractive expanded into North America in 2021, a move made possible by Guidepost Growth Equity, which offered $35 million to the pet tech company. Andrew Bleiman - who had been working as general manager of Furbo, a US company specializing in dog home cameras - joined the business to spearhead the expansion.
In 2022 Tractive opened a new award-winning headquarters in Pasching, Austria, a move made necessary by their growing number of employees. In July of that year, management transitioned the company to a 4-day workweek.
2024 saw Tractive release "Tractive Pet Cover," its first foray into pet insurance. Tractive Pet Cover is currently available only in the United Kingdom, though the company hopes to expand the service to more countries over time.

## Products & features

Tractive sells species-specific GPS & Health trackers for dogs and cats, tracker covers, LED collars, and other accessories.

### GPS tracking

Tractive's GPS trackers utilize LTE-M cellular networks, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi to track pets’ real-time locations. Tractive customers can view their pet's location via a free app available for iPhone and Android or via the web. They can also create virtual fences (geofences) to alert them when their pet leaves a safe area, such as a backyard, or enters a dangerous area, such as near a street or near a river.

### Health alerts

When a pet’s behavior has shown unusual changes over a period of time, users receive an email letting them know that something could be wrong.

### Activity monitoring

The Tractive GPS tracker records pet activity - including sleep, rest time, and estimated calories burned - to give users insights into their pet's fitness and wellbeing. Users can set activity goals and also see how their pet's activity levels compare to other pets in local and global leaderboards. Users with dogs can also keep track of their walks.

### Subscription

Tractive GPS requires a paid subscription to track your pet. It covers the fees for the tracker's built-in SIM card with unlimited data. The BASIC package includes GPS tracking and unlimited LIVE tracking. The PREMIUM package has both GPS Tracking and unlimited LIVE Tracking plus it also includes worldwide coverage, premium customer service, and other features.

## Projects & partnerships

Tractive has worked with various pet charities, projects, and initiatives. They have also led their own, several of which focused on the collective well-being of humans and pets. On one of these endeavors, Tractive sent out “puppy boxes” and “welcome home kits” to veterinarian offices, shelters, and dog breeders in Europe and the US. These contained free devices for people who had recently adopted pets. Tractive also introduced the Shelter Project, a program built to support shelters and rescues globally with free GPS tracking devices for their flight-risk animals.

## Capitalization

Tractive raised $500k in 2012 and €2 million in 2016 from former race car driver Harold Primat. In 2018, they raised an additional "seven-digit" sum from Monkfish Equity, the investment vehicle of the founders of Trivago.
In 2021, Tractive closed $35 million in growth funding led by Guidepost Growth Equity.

## Awards

* Kununu Top Company 2024, 2024, and 2022
* GlobalPETS Forum Award, 2024
* Labeled as a "Popular Employer" by the Austrian newspaper Kurier in 2023
* Trending Topics' Scale Up of the Year, 2022
* Kununu Best Team Award, 2019
* Born Global Champion Award, 2019
* Futurezone's Innovation of the Year Award, 2014
* Edison Award, 2013
* Tractive was included in the list of the best dog GPS trackers in 2021 by Technobark.