YummyPets

Octopepper co-founders Matthieu Glayrouse and Mathieu Chollon launched the Beta version of Yummypets in 2012. Both founders believed that despite the popularity of pet ownership and animal web content, pet lovers did not have a specific social platform for them. Matthieu Glayrouse and Mathieu Chollon felt that posting pet photos on generalist social networks often led to negative stereotyping and stigmatizing of the user.

The Beta version was based on the idea of Hot or Not for pets. The competitive game mechanic (called, ‘Yummy or Not’) remains a feature on Yummypets. Soon after launch, Yummypets attracted media interest from many French bloggers and media outlets such as FranceTVInfo, L’Express, Mon Quottidien, L’Obs, RTL, helping membership grow quickly in Yummypets’ native France.

The company received Series A funding of €1.5 million in 2012 from NewFund.

In 2013 Yummypets entered into advertising agreements with Whiskas, Pedigree, Zolux and Feliway. It also launched a UK version in May 2013.

In 2014 the company joined the Orange FAB France Accelerator Program. Following this introduction, the company has worked closely with the mobile phone company, Orange France in the joint development of an internet connected pet collar which allows pet owners to monitor the location and vitality metrics of their pet. This data is integrated with pets’ Yummypets profiles. Commercial launch of the Yummypets Connected Collar was scheduled for late 2015 or early 2016.

Some of the social web’s most popular pets have joined Yummypets including Nala the Cat, Oskar the Blind Cat, MJ the Beagle and Sneezy the Cat. By June 2015 the company claimed to have 500,000 pet members.