MED Angels Announce the Closing of Their First Syndicated Investment Deal Into Spain’s “Dog-Friendly” Startup During MWC 2021’s 4YFN
By: The Startup Xperts
Tags: Startup, Jessie Akkermans, Med Angels, Investment, Doggies In Town

MED Angels Announce the Closing of Their First Syndicated Investment Deal Into Spain’s “Dog-Friendly” Startup During MWC 2021’s 4YFN The Startup Xperts Jul 5·4 min read

Doggies in Town aims to become the world’s one & only app offering dog owners the possibility to discover, buy & book from the widest range of dog-friendly places, activities, events, products and services.

Barcelona, Spain, 1 July 2021 — During the 4YFN startup event of the world’s largest exhibition for the mobile industry, GSMA MWC. Málaga-based startup, Doggies in Town, announced that it has closed a pre-seed funding round facilitated by The Mediterranean Business Angel Investors (MED Angels). The funding enables Doggies in Town to further develop their app marketplace and rapidly expand their market reach to other cities in Spain. Jessie Akkermans, Doggies in Town’s female-founder & CEO states that, “Doggies in Town’s mission is to become the world’s most advanced app for dog owners. This investment lets us continue to build the app, together with the continuous & invaluable feedback we receive from both dog owners and businesses that have signed up on our marketplace.”

Founded just before the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020, Doggies in Town has since launched its Android app (iOS coming soon!) just a few weeks ago (April 2021) and has already helped +5000 dog owners find over 1500 dog-friendly businesses in 3 major cities in Spain. Julien, COO of Doggies in Town states, “from extensive research and constant communication with dog owners, a recurring theme that has been driving dog owners barking mad is not knowing which restaurants, hotels, stores, etc. are dog friendly. We’re solving this deep pain for them and at the same time, our marketing SaaS where businesses are registering, is helping thousands of businesses attract new clients; our dog owners.”

Doggies in Town Founders — (from left to right) Rafael Lopez Manas, Jessie Akkermans & Julien de Waal

What’s exciting behind this statement is that the co-founders behind Doggies in Town are individuals that have a proven track record of success. Jessie Akkermans, CEO, previously built 4 startups, Jessie was featured in the World Business Angel Forum, has been ranked among the top 6 woman entrepreneurs in Spain, was highlighted among the fastest growing startups with female founders and Doggies in Town has been ranked by well-renowned El Referente, among the hottest pet tech startups in Spain in 2021. Julien de Waal, COO, has 10 years experience in building, managing and advising high growth, profitable & award-winning startups and teams, was formerly head of Demium Malaga Startup Accelerator, is ex-Google Ads, ex-Capgemini, in short, Julien comes from some of the best tech. companies in the world. Lastly, Rafael Lopez Manas, CTO, is an experienced full-stack developer with 12 years front & backend and 5 years software project management.

Angel investor Tarek El Kady, who is the founder and chairman of Med Angels said the following about the deal: “We’re very proud of closing the first deal that is facilitated by MED Angels. We feel this is a definitive step towards strengthening the startup and investment ecosystems in the Mediterranean region, a much needed effort after a challenging period for all of us.”

MED Angels is a federation of angel networks, established with the aim of facilitating cross-border capital flow and increasing foreign (direct) investment into innovative sectors in the Mediterranean region, with a focus on seed stage investing.

In this pre-seed round, the team has attracted well renowned investors that are not only industry experts but also highly experienced entrepreneurs with track records of consistently scaling their businesses. Most notably, Dom Einhorn, founder and CEO of the world’s largest rural startup incubator-accelerator, UNIQORN, as well as the founder of The Startup Supercup & Mobcast.ai, as well as Dr. Khalid Al Tawil, well-known for his investment & advisory role in Egyptian pet startup Vetwork, and last but not least, Tarek A. El Kady, founder & chairman at MED Angels, Alexandria Angels & board member at ABAN (African Business Angel Network). Other investors include Emily González-Cebrián Lombán, Founder & CEO of Froged and Álvaro García Copé, CEO of MSGROWTH.

“Doggies in Town is a promising startup with a strong concept. It tackles a real need of an underserved and growing consumer sector, that of pet owners.” Said Dr. Khalid Al Tawil.

Jessie said “Doggies in Town will use the funding to further develop our app features including improved map features, filters, AI-powered recommendations but also, it will ensure we can rapidly expand to other cities in Spain. In addition, we will also use the funding to add more services & revenue channels so it becomes a “one-stop platform” for all dog owners’ needs.”

Plans to launch a booking system

The Doggies in Town roadmap 2021 will include the development of a booking system which will allow hotels, restaurants, groomers, etc. to connect to the Doggies in Town Booking API and enable dog owners to book & reserve from the best dog-friendly places in town.

Julien de Waal

+34 6 91 28 09 73

julien@doggiesintown.com

About Med Angels

Visit our website: https://med-angels.com/

info@med-angels.com