Vetcove

Vetcove operates an eCommerce and mobile purchasing platform for veterinary organizations. Clinics connect their existing web accounts with animal health vendors — distributors, manufacturers, compounding pharmacies, laboratories and office suppliers — and can then search all supplier catalogs at once, seeing real-time pricing, promotions and stock status customized to their own negotiated, special or GPO pricing. Users build carts across multiple vendors and complete checkout without leaving Vetcove, then track consolidated order history and purchase analytics [0][1][3][4].

The platform includes product search by name, ingredient, ailment treated or vendor item number, image-based search that identifies products from a photo of their packaging, backorder and alternate-warehouse visibility, cash back deals that are additive to existing promotions and rebates, purchase history analytics, and community discussion forums for inventory managers [0][3]. Vetcove also runs "Learn with Vetcove," a free, on-demand RACE-approved continuing education course of five modules on veterinary inventory management (foundations, demand forecasting, ordering and receiving, veterinary purchasing, and in-clinic pharmacy profitability), taught by Nicole Clausen of Veterinary Care Logistics, and offers discounted access to the Veterinary Inventory Strategy Network Elite Membership [2].

Beyond clinic purchasing, the company describes itself as powering purchasing and supply chain infrastructure for the animal health sector, including facilitating delivery of medications to pet owners, and as a channel through which animal health brands engage veterinary customers [5].

Founding story

According to the company's about page, the two founders are brothers who grew up working in their father's equine practice in New Jersey, where they spent significant time locating products, handling backorders and comparing vendor options. Later exposure to the inner workings of veterinary supply showed them that vendors charged different prices to each clinic through a tier system and that sales representatives' commissions increased when clinic prices rose, eroding practices' ability to profitably resell products. They started Vetcove to make veterinary inventory easier, faster and cheaper and to restore transparency to the ordering process for practice owners [7].

Business model

Vetcove's core platform is free to veterinary clinics and nonprofits; the company publishes a "Keep it Free" commitment stating it will keep the core platform free and accessible to as many veterinary organizations as possible [0][7]. Its stated code of ethics commits to never excluding a supplier from the catalog, never promoting one supplier over another for the same product, and never sharing or displaying buyer-supplier pricing between parties, indicating a neutral marketplace positioning across suppliers [7]. Sources do not state how the company monetizes, beyond references to a "Sellers" contact channel and vendor-funded cash back deals [2][3].

Not disclosed in the available sources. The platform is stated to be completely free to veterinary clinics and nonprofits, and the site references a separate contact channel for sellers and vendor-funded cash back deals that are additive to other promotions and rebates [0][2][3][7].

Traction

Over 23,000 veterinary hospitals are stated to use Vetcove for purchasing on the company website [0][1]; a third-party profile cites 19,000+ hospital customers live in 50 states as of June 2023 [4], and the YC profile cites a community of more than 18,000 veterinary hospitals across all 50 states [5]. The Android app shows 5,000+ downloads [3]. The about page states thousands of clinics log in weekly across all 50 states and have collectively saved millions of dollars [7]. Team size is listed at 170 [5], and the about page lists roughly 150 named team members [7].

Latest developments

The website announces a partnership with the American Veterinary Medical Association to launch AVMA Direct Connect [0][1]. The company continues hiring, with open Software Engineer and Engineering Manager roles listed as remote (US) [5][7]. The Android app listing shows a recent update and infrastructure work to support newer Android devices [3].