$17M Pet Ride Startup Under Fire in VC Showdown

What we talked about.

In this episode of Spark, hosted by Sunny Ray, founder and CEO Aparna pitches SpotOn, a ride-hailing marketplace built exclusively for pets and their owners. Operating across New York City's five boroughs plus parts of Long Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey, SpotOn reported 17 million dollars in gross sales in 2025, up from 16 million in 2024. Aparna explains the company's B2B2C model, which partners with veterinarians, Petco, PetSmart, Purina, and Google to generate the majority of its bookings, along with its rigorous driver vetting process that includes an animal cruelty database check. She pitches a 3 million dollar raise on a SAFE with a 15 million dollar valuation cap to fund expansion into Austin, Atlanta, and Seattle. The panel of investors, including Varun, Steph, Ron, and Ari, presses Aparna on confusing revenue disclosures, premium pricing versus Uber and Lyft, why she is not raising more capital, and the risk that pet abandonment poses to her business model during economic downturns. Despite the tough questioning, judges call SpotOn one of the standout pitches of the night.

SpotOn's founder pitches her $17M pet ride-hailing startup to investors who grill her on pricing, revenue clarity, and fundraising strategy.

The questions, and the answers.

What problem does SpotOn actually solve for pet owners?

You really can't get into an Uber or Lyft with your pet. Uber has Uber Pet, but we have a matching system that pairs the driver to your specific request, so if you have three dogs, we make sure the driver is okay with dogs and has a big enough car. All our drivers are vetted to be pet-friendly and checked against an animal cruelty database.

You mentioned 16 million and now you're raising 3 million. Can you clarify those numbers?

We closed 2025 with 17 million, and 16 million in 2024. That's gross revenue, not net, and I'm happy to get into finer details on where our revenue falls. The raise we're doing is 3 million dollars on a 15 million dollar cap.

Have you considered a referral system to lower your marketing costs?

Right now our focus is a B2B2C approach. We've partnered with vets who refer clients through coupon codes, flyers, or by embedding our cost directly into their bill. For example, if a dog needs surgery, the vet arranges the pickup and bills the client or the business directly, whichever works best for them.

Your pricing looks higher than Uber or Lyft. Does your total addressable market really hold up across every city?

We equate our pricing to Uber Black. We do hope to offer a different pricing tier eventually, but right now we have a very tailored, exclusive niche offering. You're not just throwing your dog, cat, or hamster into any car, our drivers are vetted specifically for that kind of trust.

You did 17 million in revenue last year. Why are you only raising 3 million and not 10 or 30 million?

We only want to prove we can succeed in a couple more cities before the big raise. This will let us rinse and repeat, three or four cities into twenty, then international. I don't want to take more than I need, and I'm looking for strategic investors who can broaden our partnership and consumer base.

What are you doing to build community and resilience into the business, especially with pet abandonment being a real risk?

We do have a philanthropic arm. We work with rescue organizations and shelters, and if someone uses a coupon code for one of our rescue partners, they get a free ride banked, maybe to get a foster pet to the vet or to its forever home. Right now we're funding that out of our own pocket, and we're looking for a partner to help fund it further.

Can you clarify how your B2B2C business model actually works?

Our business model is actually B2B2C. We're partnering with businesses like vets, Petco, and PetSmart, who use us as their transportation arm for grooming, daycare, and other services. That shelters us from Uber and Lyft since they're consumer-focused and we're purely business-focused. Going deeper into the consumer market is something this raise will help us do.