Petronics

Petronics was founded in 2014 by David Jun, Michael Friedman and Dave Cohen while the three were studying at the University of Illinois. They focused on building pet products to enhance the well-being of pets. Their first product was Mousr.

Mousr is a robotic cat toy, with a variety of tail options to match a cats individual play style or preference. They included as app, through which an owner could control Mousr, otherwise the toy would run on an automatic mode which worked to either entice or elude a cat.

Mousr works through AI algorithms and sensors which are trained to entice or elude cats. Mousr is able to switch between a mode for attracting a cat's attention and one for escaping chasing cats. Petronics collects data from a connected mobile device to understand how cats engage with Mousr and push firmware upgrades to introduce new behaviors and escape tactics.

Petronics have said the bulk of their development of Mousr went into fabrication. They wanted a robot mouse small enough not to harm cats, walls, furniture or feet while moving at high speed. The Mousr weighs 60 grams - the weight of a tennis ball - but, Petronics said, is durable enough to withstand rough play.

Petronics participated in the Hax Accelerator as part of Hax Class 5 in 2014. They raised $25,000 through the program.

Announced in February of 2017, Petronics raised $2.3 million. Atlantic Bridge University Fund led the round which included participation from SOSV, Peakview Capital, M25, Illinois Ventures, Harbor Street Ventures and HAX.

Petronics raised additional funding through Kickstarter, where as of July 2018 they raised $116,965 of their $100,000 goal.