Maven Pet has developed a wearable sensor, which is worn as a collar, that monitors multiple touch-points, such as respiratory rate, heart rate, sleep, and relevant clinical behaviours such as water intake and scratching, for household pets.

“Our goal is to build technology to allow pets to communicate,” Maven Pet’s Founder and CEO, Guilherme Coelho, explained.

The ins-paw-ration

Guilherme Coelho is the Founder and CEO of Maven. With a background in biomedical engineering, specialising in big data and telemedicine, Coelho used to work for big pharmaceutical companies. However, in the last 10-12 years, he has been operating in the startup space, and more specifically, the pet space. Maven is the second startup that Coelho has founded, the first having been a GPS tracker for pets.

Having worked in the pet space for a while, Coelho found that, in terms of care outside of practice, nothing has changed in the past 50 or so years.

“The way I take care of my pets is the same way my parents took care of their pets, which is the same way my grandparents would take care of their pets. So we still have no idea what's going on. We found an opportunity to build tech solutions to improve the outcome of care,” Coelho explained.

At this time, Coelho was also dealing with the health problems of his late dog Tommy, a Husky-Labrador mix. “The day I realised something was wrong with him was the day he was barking at me because he was no longer able to stand up by himself. At this stage, I took him to the vet, but there was nothing we could do about his health, as he was already dealing with a late-stage joint problem.

“As an engineer, I was pretty sure the signals were early on. But, we don’t spend 24/7 looking at our pet, and we don’t notice slight and incremental changes, but technology does. Over to today, we have a lot of cases, just like Tommy, but we can flag it, one or two months in advance, and that leads to a better outcome of care. That personal experience is part of the genesis of what we have built today.”

How it works

Having technology that picks up anomalies in pets means that health problems can be detected at an early stage, and pet owners and vets can be alerted, leading to an earlier diagnosis by having concrete data, and an improvement in the outcome of care.

There are three aspects to what makes up Maven: the sensor, a mobile app, and the integration with software that clinics use.

• Sensor: the sensor is worn on the pet’s neck via a collar. Staying on the pet 24/7, the sensor monitors for activity, rest patterns, biomarkers such as respiratory rate and heart rate, clinical behaviour such as water intake and scratching, and any odd behaviours and anomalies
• Mobile app: the mobile app allows pet owners to share their input by answering check-ups, writing journal entries, and replying to questions about specific cases
• Integration with PIMS (practice information management software): PIMS is the software that clinics use. Vets are able to get relevant patient data to build a unique clinical profile for each one of the patients. This allows vets to delve into the pet’s data, medical history, and their breed’s health trends to perform continuous in- depth analysis.

“These three data sources allow us to have a unique and comprehensive understanding of each pet,” mentioned Coelho. “One important note is that we treat each pet as their own control. We look at what is the health baselines and patterns for each pet, and then we look for changes. This allows us to detect, for example, heart problems, respiratory problems, chronic condition, diabetes, kidney problems, as well as post-surgery follow ups.

“We transform the data that we collect through the sensor into relevant clinical signs that a professional can leverage to diagnose.”

A ruff day in the office

When building a product that is so unique and new, challenges can appear every day.

“There’s no playbook or guidelines on how we should do things,” Coelho said. “From day one that has been a challenge, because every single day, we have to make decisions that we don't know are right or wrong.

“Every single day we are more informed, and we have more data to support our decisions, but still everything is new. So, I think that’s one of the most challenging, but interesting, things we can have in a startup, as every day we are learning something new.”

Constantly learning while building something new means that the product and vision has to pivot, and while this is a challenge, the process is also enjoyable. “I love when, at the end of the day, I feel stupid because I've learned something that questions everything that I've been doing for the past month,” Coelho laughed.

The cat that got the cream

Building a product that is on a mission to change the lives of pets means that the positive impact that is already being had on those furry friends is enough of a highlight to keep going.

“Every single time there’s one pet using Maven that we manage to improve the outcome of care, that’s what the team thrives on,” Coelho beamed. “We are all pet lovers, and we have two cats at the office. So that is the most meaningful impact we can have.”

There are other highlights in the Maven Pet journey too. In September, the startup announced that it has raised $4.42 million in a funding round, and Coelho mentioned: “We keep surrounding ourselves with the right partners that believe in our mission, and believe in what the team is building.”

Another highlight is the team that has been built around the startup. “We’ve built a team, so far, of 20 full-time employees, that are together to deliver this mission of improving the quality of life and longevity of cats and dogs.”

Looking to the future

Coelho and the team have spent the last three years building the solution, so the next step is to fully understand how the solution fits the market.

Coelho explained the next steps he envisions for the startup: “We work very close with pet owners and the vets that are our partners, but the goal for the next year is to find the right fit into the market, while at the same time keep building a product that delivers the peace of mind that pet owners are looking for, and helps vets be more streamlined and better at their jobs.”

When working on a product that’s this innovative, the work never stops. Coelho described: “There’s a lot of things to do. I have an infinite product roadmap, because there’s so many things that can still be done in the industry.

“So keeping the pace of innovation, keep delivering features, keep proving those features are relevant through clinical studies, trials, and publications. Those are the biggest goals for the next year.”

Maven Pet is disrupting the industry, with the potential to change the way we take care of our furry friends fur-ever.

This article originally appeared in the November/December 2024 issue of Startups Magazine. Click here to subscribe