GoFetch is Canada’s First Dog Walking App

GoFetch is Canada’s first dog walking app that connects dog owners with dog walkers in their city.

GoFetch makes it easy to find the perfect walker, regardless of whether dog owners need to use the service on demand or only occasionally.

Walkers (or ‘fetchers’) set their own prices and subscribe for $5.99 per month – GoFetch does not take any cut from each walk, a pricing model that sets GoFetch apart from other startups in the space.

Payment is taken care of automatically via Stripe, and walkers are paid their earnings every two weeks by direct bank deposit.

But the nature of successful mobile marketplaces is strangers doing business with strangers and this dynamic tends to not work when dealing with loved ones like children and pets.

GoFetch makes sure trust and safety measures are in place.

Background checks are done via Checkr, the same service used by Uber and DoorDash, and each dog walk is insured with a $1 million consumer general liability policy that covers dog bites to members of the public and lost or stolen dogs ($5,000 per incident).

Vancouver-based GoFetch was co-foundered by Paul Ratchford and Willson Cross. Bootstrapped to date, GoFetch is actively raising capital from value-add investors to fuel its expansion in North America.

Cross left the University of British Columbia to pursue a masters in digital marketing at New York University before being a director on the marketing team at SHOES.COM. Ratchford is a former JPMorgan investment banker, turned entrepreneur, with a shared passion for dogs and consumer tech.

“During my time at SHOES.COM, I was and continue to be incredibly fortunate to learn from one of consumer tech’s greatest entrepreneurs, Roger Hardy. He has been nothing short of a remarkable mentor for me as I dive into entrepreneurship,” Cross told Techvibes.

Apparently the feeling was mutual and Hardy is a GoFetch fan as well. Hardy told Techvibes by email, “It’s an exciting time to be a young entrepreneur where someone with a great idea can change the world. Young entrepreneurs have to be able to launch, learn, iterate and improve quickly all centered around improving the lives of customers. Willson has worked with us at SHOES.COM and I’ve seen he has the ability and enthusiasm beyond his years to achieve success, I’m really excited that he has started on this journey.”

GoFetch is exclusively available now in Canada in the iTunes Store and will be coming soon to Android and the Google Store soon. GoFetch is currently hiring iOS and Android Developers to make that happen.