Empethy

Empethy S.r.l. Società Benefit operates a digital platform for dog and cat adoption in Italy, presenting itself as a search engine for adoptable animals. Users can search animals available near them and filter listings by characteristics such as size, sex, age and colour, with a matching algorithm and filters intended to surface animals compatible with the adopter's lifestyle, needs and personality. Listings use a standardised format that highlights each animal's history, behaviour, registry and health data and suitability for apartment living, which the founders identified as missing from shelter social media pages and websites. Alongside search, the platform offers support through the adoption process, educational guides and resources for shelters, volunteers and companies, and community features for sharing listings and adoption stories.

The company also sells services to organisations. Shelters, kennels, catteries, associations and volunteers can join the network to upload adoption appeals and manage incoming requests. For companies, Empethy runs a "Corporate Pet Responsibility" (CPR) programme built around a "Rifugio Virtuale" (virtual shelter): a public page showing adoptable pets in the company's territory, the stories of partner associations and an impact diary, supplemented by add-on activities such as solidarity team building, the Empethy Academy webinar series, solidarity corporate gifts and pet days. Corporate clients receive an annual report on UN Sustainable Development Goal contributions with KPIs, employee-engagement initiatives and a media kit. Additional offerings include consultations with canine educators and other experts, training courses, a food programme and a blog.

Empethy is headquartered at Viale Antonio Gramsci 17/b in Naples and is registered in the Naples company register (VAT number IT09677741218), classified under ATECO code 6201 (software production and IT consulting). It was registered as a business in January 2021 and as an innovative startup in March 2021.

Founding story

Empethy was founded by two Neapolitan entrepreneurs, Annamaria Barbaro and Lorenza Silvestri, both named to Forbes Italy's 30 Under 30 list. The idea came from personal experience: Barbaro, newly graduated in business economics in London, returned to her family in Naples during the COVID-19 lockdown and tried to adopt a dog, but found that shelters and associations published many photos online with little detail on the animals' characteristics, behaviour, history, registry and health data or suitability for apartment life. Silvestri, who had volunteered in kennels with Barbaro, shared the same observation that adopters often underestimated the responsibility involved. After running questionnaires and interviews with associations and past adopters, the two concluded that existing channels — Facebook groups, Instagram and association websites — were unstructured and ineffective, and built a digital platform to match adoption supply and demand. They were joined by a third collaborator, Chiara, a management engineer, before launching the app.

Business model

Empethy offers its adoption app free to end users and monetises through companies. Its Corporate Pet Responsibility programme sells virtual shelter sponsorships and related activities — solidarity team building, employee webinars via Empethy Academy, solidarity corporate gifts including distance adoptions, and pet days — positioned within corporate ESG and CSR strategies, with annual SDG impact reporting, employee engagement and brand media kits as deliverables. The founders describe the structure as B2B2C, having moved beyond a purely B2C marketplace. The platform also offers paid-style services such as expert consultations and training courses, and press coverage states the venture is financed by companies contributing to the fight against stray animals and animal mistreatment.

Revenue comes from corporate partnerships under the Corporate Pet Responsibility programme (virtual shelters, team building, academy webinars, solidarity gifts) rather than from adopters, who use the app for free; the company has also been supported by public grants.

Traction

By May 2024 the platform reported around 8,000 users, more than 800 kennels and catteries involved across Italy and roughly 3,000 completed adoptions in under a year and a half of activity. Later alumni-interview figures cite over 3,000 adoptions and more than 750 partner shelters, with the CPR programme involving over 50 companies. Named corporate projects include Credem (100 pets in Campania and Emilia-Romagna, pre-adoption consultations offered to over 2,000 group employees), MSD Animal Health Italia (over 300 dogs and cats rehomed) and Barilla (50 animals across three shelters in Parma and its province).

Latest developments

The company won the "Campania Startup 2023" call (PR Campania FESR 2021-2027, Axis I, Action 1.1.3) with a EUR 385,000 non-repayable grant to build a technology platform connecting associations, companies and citizens, with completion targeted by July 2025. It publishes a 2025 impact report and sustainability documents (code of ethics, D&I and gender-parity policy, environmental policy) as a Società Benefit, and runs a prize promotion with Unipol.