Dog Tracker Nano
Wearable technology for dogs in partnership with world leading brands.
- Location
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Berkhamsted,
United Kingdom
Categories: Home & Personal Mixed Digital/Non-Digital B2C
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Investment
sought: - £100,000
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Equity
offered: - 10.00%
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Investment
amount: - £145,390
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Valuation
(pre-money): - £900,000
Idea
Introduction
Dog Tracker Nano is designed to be the most sophisticated smart collar and dedicated app on the market with a wide range of features at an affordable price, including
- Continuous live tracking to show current owner and dog location anywhere in the world
- Standard, satellite, video and compass views on all iPhone and Android devices
- Duration, distance, speed and direction to monitor daily activity
- Weight, exercise and nutrition goals and benchmarks for a fit and healthy dog
- Track, record, review and share favourite walks
- Set safe zones with audible alerts when a dog goes astray
Nano’s powerful technology would be housed in a small, stylish, lightweight and waterproof shell that fits onto a dog’s collar, harness or jacket irrespective of the breed.
Intended impact
Dog Tracker Nano aims to change the way dog owners look after their dogs.
The sleek design should ensure the smart collar can be used daily by even the most energetic dogs, of all shapes and sizes.
Wearing the collar daily means that dogs can be let off the lead to get the exercise they need, with peace of mind they won’t go astray.
Continuous tracking and simple to use maps would ensure owners know where their dog is at all times and where they have been, to prevent loss.
The smart collar tells owners how much exercise their dog is getting and for how long, while the app analyses data and goals to give practical advice on ideal weight, exercise and nutrition for a fit and healthy dog.
Nano's aim is to make caring for a dog easier. At a target price of £99 plus £6 a month, Nano would be affordable for the mass market of dog owners across the EU and we believe will quickly become an essential technology for all dogs and their owners.
Dog Tracker Nano will hopefully catapult the Company from being a highly respected manufacturer of a premium niche product to the leading producer of affordable, wearable technology for the worldwide dog market.
With our experience and what we feel to be strong leverage we should be able to reach the market quickly with proven technology and design. Strength and reputation in the UK and France willwould be exploited with the aim of building exclusive partnerships and licensing agreements for Dog Tracker Nano in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain – a market of 33.6 million dogs.
Wholesale, distribution and ecommerce agreements would be sought for other EU markets.
Substantial accomplishments to date
Experience, expertise and innovation
The management team have extensive experience in this market, having launched one of the first dedicated GPS trackers for dogs in 2008 (known as the Retrieva collar). In 2014 we produced Dog Tracker Plus, a market leading tracking and anti theft collar and app.
Plus is a premium product using proprietary location and telecom technologies, based on 6 years knowledge and experience with leading pet welfare organisations, universities and technologists around the world.
The company has a long standing licensing agreement with the specialist retailer Geotraceur for the French market and would apply that knowledge for other international licences.
Exclusive agreements have also been signed with The Kennel Club, Petlog, Pets Corner and Eurotunnel.
Dog Tracker Plus units are being used extensively across the UK and Europe,as well as in North and South America, Australia and South East Asia.
Dog Tracker Plus has frequently been praised by the media, most recently by the Gadget Show.
Monetisation strategy
Priced for the mass market
Dog Tracker Nano would generate upfront income from hardware sales and long tail subscription revenue from usage fees and fixed contracts.
Target price would be £99 upfront plus £6 a month unlimited usage anywhere in the world or free device plus £10 a month for 24 months
Sales and revenues are expected to come from four sources:
1) Direct sales generated by in-house marketing programmes, including the Dog Tracker Nano website and online store as well as the Customer Services team.
Currently, the Dog Tracker Plus site achieves an average of 450 unique hits a day – a gross annual audience of 164,000 UK owners looking for an affordable smart collar.
2) Indirect sales generated by partners promoting Nano directly to their customers.
We plan to have exclusive partnerships in seven key verticals – pet welfare / pet insurance / telecoms / pet food / pet travel / specialist retail / pet services and isare in discussion with leading brands in each sector.
3) Licensing in the largest EU markets where the partner takes responsibility for marketing, sales and distribution.
4) Wholesale and distributor agreements for secondary EU markets.
Further income could come from the aggregated data collected through the collar and app showing exercise and activity levels by breed and lifestyle. Such data willwould be invaluablevaluable to pet food, pet insurance, pharmaceutical companies and veterinarians.
Use of proceeds
Product delivery
£100,000 is required to complete the development of the Dog Tracker Nano device and app ready for manufacture, as well as for the preparation of marketing materials for in-house and partner marketing in support of the launch.
Specifically
1) Completion of the device built upon the existing proven technology platforms; final design; prototyping; software and firmware development; app development; testing; tooling and first release.
2) Marketing including brand guidelines; website/online store; in-house/partner marketing collateral
Additional funds raised would be applied to launch publicity and establishing international partner relationships.
Rewards and incentives
To thank our investors we are offering the following rewards
All investors = head of the queue for first shipping
£250 = £50 discount off a Dog Tracker Nano device
£500 = FREE Dog Tracker Nano device worth £99
£1000+ = FREE Dog Tracker Nano device and two year contract worth £250
Market
Target market
There are over 60m dogs in the EU alone with an estimated 90m adults having at least one dog in their home.
The petfood industry estimates the value of the pet market in France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the UK to be €8.5bn with €1.9bn spent on accessories.
While there is no ‘universal truth’ for dog owners or a single problem to solve, wearable technology can be used to address a variety of concerns and daily pet care issues, common across the region.
Keeping a dog safe from misadventure, theft or loss
Dealing with poor behaviour and recall
Keeping a dog happy, fit and healthy
Recent studies have shown that while the UK for example is a nation of dog lovers, many pets are overfed, under-exercised, badly trained and overweight and that loss and theft is on the increase.
We believe that technology is no longer a barrier for mass market dog owners and that an affordable, easy to use product with an intuitive app, marketed in partnership with leading brands, will appeal to the largest dog owner markets in the EU..
Our reputation, marketing strength and endorsement from partners has led to a significant increase in interest and demand in our current product, Dog Tracker Plus. Since March 2014 we have had over 66,000 unique hits on our website.
We feel we understand our market, have the credibility of time, a history of innovation, rigorous testing and are able to move fast into the mass market. Our partnership approach ensures a high presence and influence in the market at very low cost to the business.
Characteristics of target market
All owners want to know where their dog is at all times with many worrying about their dog going astray, being lost or stolen. Even those that rarely let their dog off the lead, fear the worst could one day happen to them.
It is estimated some 10m pets go missing worldwide and 1 in 3 pets are lost at least once in their lifetime. In the UK alone 126,000 dogs are picked up by local authorities each year with a variety of wardens, vets, microchip and search companies doing their best to reunite them with their owners.
Increasingly dog owners are recognising that being off the lead is essential for health and well-being and are looking for technology to ensure they are safe.
Keeping a dog fit and healthy is a challenge with inadequate food labelling and little information available for daily dog care.
Nano aims to meet these needs through a single device and a powerful app that combines activity data with self-entered information to calculate ideal weight, exercise and nutrition.
Marketing strategy
Exploiting the power of partnership
PWe understand the market. The management has the credibility of 6 years’ experience in this sector and a history of innovation and rigorous testing. Our partnership approach should ensure a high presence and influence in the market at a low cost to the business.
Post launch, we would focus on brand development, in-house and partner communication using all available marketing channels.
We estimate that The Kennel Club & Petlog (welfare), Pets Corner (retail) and Eurotunnel Le Shuttle (travel) could deliver over 2 million dog owners through a single campaign and will reach over 5 million owners repeatedly over the course of 12 months.
Similar programmes would be developed with international partners and licensors in key markets in the pet insurance, pet food, telecomm and pet services sectors.
We would provide product and campaign images, content, branding and design to ensure consistency as well as continually refining the Nano website and online store to ensure top position on all search rankings (as now with Dog Tracker Plus) and the highest possible conversion from site visit to purchase.
We would continue to invest in customer service recognising that even at an entry level price, some owners will take their time to make a purchase.
Partnerships with ‘community’ brands and services such as DogLost and DogFriendly would be targeted to increase social media coverage.
Commercial partner profiles
The Kennel Club - The UK’s leading welfare organisation which has registered; 2.5m dogs in the last 10 years; organisers of Crufts the world’s largest dog show.
Eurotunnel - The UK’s leading carrier of dogs travelling to/from Europe and 1.1m dogs carried to date.
Petlog - The UK’s largest database of microchipped pets with 7m pet owners registered.
Pets Corner - The UK’s largest premium pet retailer with over 90 stores.
Competition strategy
Proven expertise and experience in the EU
There are a number of established tracker producers in the EU and two of note selling only to the US. Recently there has been a spate of new hopefuls seeking funding but they lack our expertise and detailed knowledge of the EU market.
Dog Tracker Nano comes from an experienced developer with successful products sold to dog owners across the world.
RDTP will rely on four strategies for competitive advantage
1. Maintain a barrier to entry through exclusive partners in 7 verticals:
Show as graphic
Pet Travel
Pet Welfare
Pet Retail
Pet insurance
Telecomms
Pet food
Pet services
2. Build a strong portfolio of complimentary products under the Dog Tracker name for segmentation and price differentiation – each delivering technical excellence at a competitive price.
3. Focus only on high end, high functionality devices with dedicated apps.
4. Secure exclusive licensing, wholesale and distribution agreements throughout the EU.
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