PETRIAGE ACHIEVED SUCCESS IN 2022, DEVELOPING THREE VIBRANT LINES OF BUSINESS

Announces Strategic Actions to Position Petriage Advantageously In 2023

BELLEVUE, Wash., Dec. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Petriage, a pet health technology company, whose connected-care platform strengthens bonds between veterinarians and pet parents, reported today how it successfully scaled its business in 2022 to develop three vibrant and complementary lines of business: core telehealth; support for pet insurers; and a veterinary-sponsored direct-to-consumer Rx business.

At the same time, Petriage announced strategic actions necessary to better position it for success in the coming year.

Core Petriage telehealth offering: Petriage is piloting its telehealth offering at a number of locations owned by one of the nation's largest corporate veterinary companies. Initial results are extremely encouraging and Petriage is in discussions to expand use of its telehealth platform to other locations. Simultaneously, Felix&Fido, a Seattle-based veterinary startup, will begin offering a membership-based service, built around Petriage's telehealth offering, through which pet parents can access on-demand care virtually.

"We've seen that sales efforts targeted to sophisticated, multi-location vet practices are more productive than sales to individual veterinary practices," said Allon Freiman, Petriage's Chief Strategy Officer and one of its three co-founders. "Large enterprises often have internal customer success teams that can help quickly implement new offerings like Petriage's, enabling them to quickly adopt and benefit fully from our comprehensive telehealth offering."

Support for pet insurers: Earlier this year, Petriage signed a non-exclusive agreement to provide Petriage's symptom analysis tool as a free member benefit to policyholders of a nationally recognized and trusted pet insurance brand.

"Petriage's AI-Driven Symptom Analysis tool is a good complement for pet insurance companies, initially as a 'value add' to subscribers and, ultimately, as a tool for managing their base of insured pets' medical conditions," Freiman explained. He noted Petriage is in active discussions with other pet insurance companies about similar offerings by Petriage as a member benefit.

Creating a Petriage branded veterinary-sponsored direct-to-consumer Rx business: Leveraging its pro-veterinary business model, Petriage launched a beta test of its direct-to-consumer Rx offering earlier in 2022, in partnership with Lambert Veterinary Supply and its Pet's Choice Pharmacy subsidiary, which is licensed in all 50 states. Initial results are promising, with high incremental revenue generated by the vets participating in the test. Petriage plans to roll out this offering to all its veterinary clinic partners in the new year.

Earlier this year, Petriage received a non-binding term sheet to be acquired by a veterinary distribution division of a large, publicly traded company. Due to the buyer's perceived concerns about recession and rising interest rates, this sale was not concluded. This failure to sell the business coincided with an expected reduction by the venture capital industry in funding early-stage companies.

To ensure the successful operation of its business, including scaling its promising business initiatives, Petriage took actions to reduce spending. Among these are the departure of Gary Watson and Wendy Hennig, Petriage's Chief Technology Officer and Chief Growth Officer, respectively; and the transition of CEO Joe Coury to become CFO of Urban Animal. Coury, who continues to be a shareholder, will serve as CEO until year end, at which point Freiman will assume the CEO role.

"A selfless leader, Joe brought Petriage deep experience in the veterinary industry. In his more than 24 months here, he guided our pivot to emphasizing enterprise sales, entry in the insurance vertical, and launch of our direct-to-consumer Rx business. Petriage is also fortunate to have established a solid technology stack and sales and customer success teams, through the good work of Gary and Wendy, respectively. We wish them all every future success and thank them for their efforts, which made Petriage a viable entity and leader in veterinary telehealth," Freiman said.

Freiman said, "Petriage's Board of Directors believes the company's strategic deployment of cash and commitment to tight expense controls positions it well to emerge favorably from this challenging period," noting that several competitors that took substantial amounts of venture capital money have folded.

"Petriage uses capital efficiently, with a cost per covered pet of only $8, compared to an average of $140 for our competitors. We believe Petriage is well-placed for future success as we further develop our three lines of business," Freiman concluded.

Petriage is a B2B pet health technology company that brings fully integrated telehealth services to veterinary practices and their clients. Designed by a vet specifically for veterinarians, its platform provides a unique user-friendly way for vets to communicate with clients and deliver care to pets remotely, including a proprietary patented teletriage app in which pet parents are provided a recommendation in real-time about the need and urgency to seek medical care for their pets. Learn more at petriage.com.

SOURCE Petriage