Jimmy Fallon Joins $5 Million Seed Round For Dutch, Pet Telehealth Startup From Cofounder Of Hims

In the midst of the pandemic, while TV anchors were forced to take their shows in-home, Jimmy Fallon’s aging golden retriever Gary caused an adorable spectacle (planned or not) when he barged on-set, apparently mistaking Fallon’s monologue for a command. “Did you think I called you?” Fallon asked, before lamenting: “Man, you’re turning into kind of a smelly dog. I don’t know what to do with this dog...I really can’t take it right now. Gary, you’ve got to get out of here. It’s like being in a high school locker room.” 

Whether Gary the retriever really smelled that bad, or became the subject of a comedian’s shtick, viewers couldn’t know. But a year later, Fallon is the latest investor to join a new funding round into a startup providing telehealth assistance for pets. Founded by Hims cofounder Joe Spector, Dutch launched Thursday with $5 million in seed funding from Forerunner Ventures, with participation from Bling Capital and Trust Ventures. Andrew Dudum, the CEO of Hims/Hers, as the public company once known for splashy erectile dysfunction treatment ads is now known, invested in his former cofounder, too.

"With the $100 billion pet sector thriving, pet health trailing human health when it comes to digital evolution, and pet parents increasingly sold on the merits and ease of telemedicine post-pandemic, there’s never been a better time to back problem solvers in the category,” Forerunner partner Nicole Johnson tells Forbes. 

Dutch focuses on treating pets for anxiety and dermatological issues – which tend to cause smelliness like, perhaps, Gary’s – and is now available to pet parents in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, South Dakota, Virginia, Idaho and Indiana.

While senior vice president of strategic initiatives at Hims, Spector says he worked firsthand on the push to “consumerize” healthcare through telemedicine, which was still banned in many states when that company launched in 2017. “I just had this realization that there’s really not a similar model for pets,” he says. “I felt in a unique position to be able to execute that.”

Both telehealth and pet care are enormous industries, so it’s no wonder that Spector saw an opportunity in them. In 2020 alone – the year of the purported “pandemic puppy,” like Spector’s six-month-old corgi Edgar – over $100 billion was estimated to have been spent on pets in the United States, $31.4 billion of which went to vet care and product sales. Between 2020 and 2025, U.S. telehealth revenues are expected to exceed $25 billion. 

With pet insurance a famously fragmented, confusing market, Dutch is one of several startups looking to gain traction offering a more tech-assisted twist. (Pawp, which recently raised $13 million, charges $19 per month for 24/7 telehealth coverage and access to a $3,000 emergency fund.) Dutch’s approach, for now: offer services that aren’t covered by pet insurance plans, charging $39 per month for an “end-to-end” experience that includes treatment plans and dispensation of prescriptions all fully remote.

“There’s a lot of guilt, because the owner feels like, ‘I did this,’” says Spector of the anxiety felt by pet owners themselves when it appears something has gone wrong with their furry friend – emotions that may grow more pronounced as some workers return to offices.

Dutch remains focused on anxiety and allergy treatments to start. Should a pet’s problem exceed the capacity of what can be diagnosed onscreen or those issues, customers will be redirected to brick-and-mortar veterinarians and treatment facilities, Spector notes. Then it’s back to normal, expensive life as a pet owner.