Bullish about its future, Mad Paws, a seven-year-old pet care services company based in Sydney, Australia, has lodged its offer with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to list on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) under the ticker symbol MPA. Its initial public offering (IPO) is AUS$10 million–$12 million (US$7.6 million–US$9.2 million) at AUS$0.20 (US$0.15).per share with Foster Stockbroking Pty Ltd. and CCZ Statton Equities Pty Ltd. as its appointed lead managers.
About Mad Paws’ decision
Mad Paws, created by a five-person team led by Alexis Soulopoulos as CEO, is an online marketplace for dog and cat lovers in Australia. It counts over 600,000 clients (pet owners) and 20,000 registered animal lovers (pet sitters) as users of its platform, and claims over 180,000 services booked since it started.
By going public, Mad Paws aims to raise its business profile and be seen as a leading player in Australia's vibrant pet care service sector — a good position to be in if it is to win more clients from the current estimated pool of 29 million pets in Australia.
In FY2020, Mad Paws reported nearly AUS$2 million revenues and a Gross Merchandise Value based on transactions processed at AUS$10.2 million. With an IPO, the company hopes to have more resources to fund its plans which include starting its own pet insurance service.
Mad Paws’ place in pet food
In 2020, Mad Paws also joined Australia's growing pet food subscription business by offering Mad Paws Dinner Bowl for dogs made from fresh raw meats and vegetables. This new service targets the 40% of Australian households that have at least one pet dog. However, this space is getting crowded and Mad Paws is facing serious competition from the likes of Lyka Pet Food which is also based in Sydney and Scratch from Melbourne.
Lyka offers a fresh pet food subscription service and Scratch offers on subscription its premium grain-free kibble recipes. Lyka also recently secured AUS$1.57 million in seed round funding to boost its production to match the sudden increase in demand as people and pets go through COVID-19 lockdowns.
Mad Paws’ stocks become publicly available on March 15, 2021.
