Digitail, a platform that automates many of veterinarians’ administrative tasks on January 12 announced the closure in the US of an $11mn Series A funding round.

The funds will go towards expanding in the US and Canada and continuing global expansion. Digitail works with more than 750 clinics worldwide serving approximately 1.4mn pets.

The platform digitises the administrative tasks of animal hospitals, from scheduling and record keeping to inventory management, billing and customer communication.

The round was led by Atomico, which joined previous investors byFounders, Gradient and Partech. Atomico principal Andreas Helbig is joining the Digitail board as part of the investment.

Accelerated by the pandemic, pet ownership across the world is currently booming, with the petcare market estimated to be worth $200bn currently, and set to grow to over $300bn by 2030.

Vets are struggling to cope with the demand, treating 30+ pets per day on average — equivalent to one every 15 minutes — which is contributing to capacity constraints and reports of increased burnout amongst staff.

Vets are three-and-a-half times more likely to commit suicide than the general population, Digitail said in its press release.

“What is exacerbating this problem is that the majority of veterinarians are still reliant on paper or use old, legacy systems to manage their workflows, things like scheduling, inventory management, invoicing, and patient record data entry. Unlike the medical industry at large, digital transformation is yet to touch large parts of the veterinary industry,” said Digitail CEO and co-founder Sebastian Gabor.