Each year, nearly 4 million dogs enter animal shelters nationwide, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Less than half of them — 1.4 million — are adopted.
Batman, an approximately 18 month old mutt (pictured above) was one of the lucky ones. Abandoned by his original family at a high-kill shelter in California where he contracted pneumonia, Batman was rescued, placed in a foster home, and given treatment for the potentially deadly infection. Now he’s in a new, loving home thanks to
, an animal adoption app developed in Naperville.
Woof founder Mark Wade got the inspiration for the app in part from his own dog, Kitsu, whom he purchased from a pet store 14 years ago.
“At the time I asked ‘Where do you get the dogs?,’ because I’d kind of heard about puppy mills,” said Wade. “The guy’s like ‘We get them from a family farm in Iowa.’ Turns out, Iowa is the puppy mill capital of the Midwest.”
Wade had long been a developer for a number of corporate clients, and was looking to start a business that was more centered around a social mission. When someone pitched the idea for a pet adoption app during Startup Weekend 2014, he latched onto it immediately. After his team won the competition Wade decided to pursue the project full time, and he’s been doing it ever since.
To date, the app shows about 100,000 dogs and cats from 3,100 different shelters across the U.S. and Canada.
“Kind of like Tinder for dogs”
Woof Rescue is far from the only dog rescue app on the market. But with fullscreen images and search options that allow users to search for multiple breeds at once, as well as distance options from 20 to 500 miles, Wade believes he provides a better user experience.
Danielle Ma (also pictured) — who tried multiple adoption apps before she found Batman on Woof — chose the app because of its interface and the level of detail contained in shelter animals’ profiles.
“It’s kind of like Tinder for dogs,” she said.
Wade’s hope is that Woof can help promote pet adoption by making it easier to browse animals from multiple shelters at once. Currently, he is looking into the possibility of a more data-driven pet selection process by allowing users to fill in information about themselves and their lifestyles, then matching adopters with pets that would be a good fit.
For instance, adopters who live in apartments and work long hours may prefer smaller, low-maintenance breeds that don’t require multiple walks a day.
Woof’s revenue comes from an in-app marketplace that lets local pet service providers — be they veterinarians, dog walkers, groomers, or trainers — place hyper-targeted ads to new pet owners within the areas they serve. Moving forward, Wade is also looking to partner with companies that serve customers nationwide, for greater scalability.
For now Wade is Woof Rescue’s only employee, but he is actively looking for funding and business partners. Until then, he’s taking it one adoption at a time.
Photos via Danielle Ma.
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