Shenzhen-based New Ruipeng Pet Healthcare Group has closed a financing round led by Tencent (HKSE: 0700), bagging hundreds of millions of dollars, 36Kr reported on Tuesday.
Germany-based pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim and Country Garden Venture Capital both led as strategic investors in the round, while Snow Lake Capital, US-based private equity fund OrbiMed, Hong Kong-based Aspex Management, and Lake Bleu Capital also participated.
New Ruipeng operates the largest pet hospital chain in China with over 1,400 centers in more than 80 cities in China, offering a slew of services including dental care, vaccinations, sterilizations, and medical treatment.
According to market research firm Jingdata, which published a report focusing on China’s pet industry in October 2019, there were about 15,000 pet hospitals nationwide by April 2019. The firm also estimated that 91 million cats and dogs were kept in cities as pets in the country by the end of 2018.
New Ruipeng also runs a WeChat mini program called Awen, enabling online bookings for their services and online shopping for pet necessities and food.
The same Jingdata report estimated that the market for China’s pet industry amounted to RMB 170.8 billion (USD 25 billion) in 2018, with the medical services segment taking about 20% of that figure. It also predicted that the market for pet hospitals will grow from RMB 17.1 billion (USD 2.5 billion) in 2018 to roughly RMB 30 billion (USD 4.4 billion) in 2022.
