Brock Weatherup bought a pet care startup (and landed $2 million in seed capital)

Brock Weatherup is taking yet another dive into the startup world. You’d think between presiding over Philly Startup Leaders and the angel investing, the 44-year-old entrepreneur had his plate full.
But no.
The entrepreneur and founder of Pet360 — which sold to PetSmart in 2014 — is hitting the startup pavement yet again as CEO of PetCoach: a health service platform for pet owners. The kickoff capital? A cool $2 million seed round led by Comcast Ventures.
“It is exciting to be back in the game with a new growing company,” Weatherup said via email. “I am psyched to have gotten some amazing investors that are as excited about what we are doing/going to do.”
But this isn’t the first time we’ve heard of PetCoach. Back in 2014, Weatherup’s company forked over $300,000 cash into the Dreamit Austin company founded by David Martin in exchange for equity and advertising. This year, Weatherup doubled down on his bet by fully acquiring the company —for an undisclosed amount — and joining the team as CEO.

Read on….IF YOU DARE!!!! https://t.co/3nDFG3ZJ7X pic.twitter.com/MHo5zX0cVG

— 沖縄に行くために (@PetCoachApp) October 31, 2016

PetCoach is working out of an office in Wayne, Pa., and has a full-time staff of four people including Martin (who remains on the team as Chief Data Officer) and Weatherup. Cofounder Alvaro Jimenez is based out of Madrid, Spain, and there’s a dev team working out of Fortaleza, Brazil.
Initially the app seeks to connect pet owners with experts (mostly veterinarians) to get answers to their pet-related questions for free. Once an audience is built, the business aims at expanding that offering to include further access to vets and experts and direct care.
“Since selling Pet360 to PetSmart 2 years ago, staying on as CDO of PetSmart and then leaving that world 18 months ago, I have explored many options and locations for what to do next,” said Weatherup. “Through all of that, I found this great opportunity in the $60B+ pet industry with some amazing people and in the ideal place to build a new company in Philly.”
In addition to the cash from Comcast Ventures and Weatherup himself, PetCoach is also backed by Dreamit Ventures and consumer-only venture firm Maveron.
“We are thrilled to be assisting PetCoach in accelerating its growth and mission within the online pet healthcare industry,” said Comcast Ventures Managing Director Sam Landman. “The team at PetCoach is well-positioned to become the leader in omni-channel pet care.”