Dog Walking App Wag! to Go Public in SPAC Deal With CHW

(Bloomberg) -- Wag Labs Inc., the developer of dog-walking app Wag!, has agreed to go public through a merger with a blank-check company.

San Francisco-based Wag and CHW Acquisition Corp. will have a value of about $350 million as a combined company, according to a Thursday announcement confirming a Bloomberg News report. The company, to be named Wag! Group Co., is expected to be listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol PET.

The company has raised an equity placement at $10 a share from existing investors including Battery Ventures, ACME Capital, General Catalyst and Tenaya Capital. The transaction also includes $30 million in debt financing from Blue Torch Capital.

Wag in 2019 repurchased a 50% stake in itself from SoftBank Vision Fund, which first invested $300 million in the company in 2018.

In addition to dog walking, Wag provides on-demand services such as pet sitting, training and drop-in checks. It offers a monthly subscription for these services in 50 states.

Pet Parents

One in five households in the U.S. adopted a pet since the coronavirus pandemic started in March 2020, said Wag Chief Executive Officer Garrett Smallwood.

New pet owners are the best-performing clients for Wag's platform, having spent much of the past two years locked down with their pets and now leaving them for the first time as the world returns to normal, he said.

“They have a lot of guilt for leaving their pets for the first time,” Smallwood said. “We think the next 12 to 24 months will be a phenomenal time for the business as we return to normal.”

CHW, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, is led by President Paul Norman, a former Kellogg Co. executive, and co-chief executive officers Jonah Raskas and Mark Grundman. CHW raised $125 million in an August initial public offering and had planned to target a merger in the consumer and retail sector.

Oppenheimer & Co. advised Wag on the transaction, while CHW was advised by Chardan.