Indian founders building for pets have until this weekend to get in front of some of the biggest names in pet care. Leap Venture Studio, the accelerator run jointly by Mars Petcare, TAW Ventures and Michelson Found Animals, closes applications for its eleventh cohort on October 18 at 11:59 PM PT, which works out to 12:29 PM IST on Monday, October 19.
This year the program wants science-backed startups working on feline-first care, senior pet health, dental health and allergies. India’s pet owners give founders plenty of problems to solve in those areas.
Most of them are new to pet parenting, cats are becoming more popular in Indian cities, and veterinary care is still hard to reach for a large share of families.
A country of first-time pet parents
India’s pet owners are unusually new to the job. In a 2024 Mars Petcare survey of 1,000 Indian respondents, 69% of pet parents said they were first-time owners, compared with 47% globally.
Their choice of pet is shifting too. Kartik Gupta, co-founder of pet food brand Goofy Tails, told Entrepreneur India that his company is seeing a sharp rise in cat adoption, with single working women among the fastest-growing groups of new pet parents. Smaller homes and busy schedules make cats an easy fit for urban living.
The market is still small for a country of India’s size, but it is growing quickly. Ken Research values India’s pet care market at $884 million USD in 2025 and expects it to roughly double to $1.77 billion USD by 2032, with the pet population rising from 39 million to close to 57 million over the same period.
“India’s pet care market is one of the fastest-growing in the region, driven by young and first-time pet parents. We’ve already backed a strong company out of Asia: one of our Cohort 9 companies built a dog food brand across Hong Kong and Singapore with a shelter give-back model baked into it from day one,” said Rachel Sheppard, Director of Ventures at Mars Petcare.
“For this cohort, we’d love to see that same energy from India applied to feline-first care, senior pet health, dental health, or allergy-focused solutions.”
Too many pets, too few vets
For all that enthusiasm, getting a pet seen by a vet in India is often difficult. According to research from Bengaluru-based Supertails, the country has more than 32 million pets but only 5,000 to 7,000 companion animal veterinarians, roughly one vet for every 5,000 animals.
Cost was the biggest barrier to care in the same survey of 400 pet parents, cited by 48% of respondents in tier 1 cities and 36% in tier 2 and 3 cities.
Many owners also skip the routine visits that catch problems early. Only a third of dog and cat parents surveyed kept up with regular checkups, and while half of big-city respondents said they were open to online vet consultations, just 16% actually used them.
Investors have started to back companies tackling that gap. Supertails itself raised $30 million in February in a round led by Venturi Partners, and said it would use the money to expand its clinics and support the wider veterinary ecosystem.
Sheppard expects access to drive much of what comes next.
“Based on our experience investing at Leap, we find that when access is a challenge, startups provide the answers. Access to early and at-home diagnostics as well as veterinary telehealth would be two areas I would anticipate growing in the region. These solutions will matter most for senior pets, where catching problems early changes everything,” she said.
Affordability is part of the same conversation. “A smart world for pets looks like one that doesn’t require families to choose between the care their animal needs and what they can actually afford. We’re committing to scaling that kind of impact and look forward to meeting the founders bringing it to life,” said Phillip Kim, executive director at Michelson Philanthropies.
What Leap offers founders
Leap’s 12-week program is hybrid, so founders in Bengaluru, Mumbai or Delhi NCR can take part without relocating. Each startup is paired with mentors and entrepreneurs-in-residence and gets help with operations, brand and marketing, along with direct access to experts and investors at Mars Petcare, TAW Ventures and Michelson Found Animals.
The accelerator has backed 63 companies across 10 cohorts in 17 markets so far. Cohort 10 drew more than 300 applications from over 40 countries, and in response Leap is moving back to a spring schedule, with Cohort 11 starting on March 30, 2027.
Euromonitor’s latest pet care trends report finds that owners around the world are growing more skeptical of health claims, and clinical proof is becoming one of the main ways premium brands stand apart.
Jane Lauder, founder and managing director of TAW Ventures, has said she wants founders who think beyond a strong product toward building consumer trust and lasting differentiation.
One place in the cohort is reserved for an Impact Seat, awarded mainly on a company’s positive effect on the pet care ecosystem. Non-profits are eligible, and past holders include myBalto Foundation, BestyBnB and Petcademy.
Applications for Cohort 11 and the Impact Seat close on October 18 at 11:59 PM PT (12:29 PM IST, October 19).
Featured image: Aakash Malik via Unsplash+
Disclosure: This article mentions a client of an Espacio portfolio company.
