About

Barkee is a subscription-based platform for trusted pet care in Greece. We’re building the missing infrastructure for a growing, fragmented market, starting with vetted pet sitters and expanding into a full-service ecosystem that includes health reminders, training, pet insurance, food subscriptions, and more. Our mission is to turn the chaos of informal pet care (Facebook groups, last-minute texts, and unreliable favors) into a trusted, seamless experience for both pet parents and providers. With 1.2M dogs and cats in Greece and no centralized, scalable solution, Barkee is positioned to become the go-to platform for everyday pet needs. We’re not just solving for convenience, we’re solving for peace of mind.

Solution & Product

Barkee connects pet parents with trusted, vetted pet sitters through a subscription-only model. Users pay a monthly, 6-month, or yearly fee to access sitter profiles, verified reviews, and instant booking, no per-booking fees, no hidden costs. The platform launched in April 2025 on iOS and Android, with core features including sitter discovery, availability filtering, and a secure messaging system. We’re also integrated reminders (e.g. vaccinations, flea treatments) and will soon offer paid online training for sitters, pet health records, and televet access. Barkee is designed as a modular platform, starting with the most painful, frequent need (trusted care) and scaling to own the full spectrum of pet services.

Innovation & Scalability

Barkee’s innovation lies in its simplicity and ability to scale trust. Instead of a transactional model, Barkee offers flat-rate subscriptions that unlock seamless access to pet care services, starting with sitter booking and expanding into health, training, food, and insurance. Our wedge is narrow but intentional: sitter booking is the most painful, high-intent use case. Once we solve that, we deepen user value through add-ons that increase stickiness and lifetime value. Reminders and community events (like group dog hikes) increase logins and retention. Certification expands the supply side. Insurance and food unlock new monetizable moments. Every added feature is modular, high-margin, and scalable. Barkee doesn’t need to rebuild for new verticals, it layers them in. Our tech is built for this. We’re not just digitizing pet care. We’re creating infrastructure for an entire category.

Traction & achievements

Barkee launched its MVP in April 2025 on both iOS and Android. During our first real-world activation at Greece’s largest dog festival, we personally onboarded 180+ users in two days through over 2,000 direct conversations, a 9% conversion rate with zero ad spend. Bookings and sitter searches have already started flowing through the platform, and we've grown organically through sitter referrals and community word of mouth. We are already in talks about collaborating with EOPEP-certified trainers to offer paid training courses for sitters, creating both revenue and supply-side control. Our grassroots GTM strategy and lean tech build (MVP solo-built by our CTO) have delivered high signal with low spend, proving demand and team execution.

Team & Why Us

Barkee is founded by three co-founders with direct lived experience of the problem and full-stack execution ability. Theodore (CEO) discovered the need while working as a pet sitter in the U.S., where he experienced the emotional power of trusted care. Chloe (CPO) had already built a 300+ member grassroots dog community in Athens before Barkee even launched. Leo (CTO) is an experienced full-stack engineer and animal lover who solo-built the Barkee MVP across iOS and Android, with light contractor support. We’ve lived this problem, and we’ve already built the product—now we’re scaling the solution. Our team combines user empathy, technical horsepower, and on-the-ground distribution.

Funding Needs

We are raising €250K in pre-seed funding to activate monetization, scale our user base to 10K paid users, and validate CAC/LTV at scale. This round will fund 12–15 months of growth, including product expansion (pet health booklet, reminders, training), sitter onboarding and certification, and the launch of early partner services like food subscriptions and insurance pilots. Our goal is to reach €500K+ ARR and prepare for a follow-on Seed round in 2026. We’ve bootstrapped until now, launched our MVP, validated demand, and proven user acquisition works at 9%+ conversion offline. This raise turns product-market fit into sustainable, scalable revenue.