Hey, friends! We have some exciting news to share with you all. Hound has acquired Relief Rover and we are unifying our teams, communities, and technology to continue building a better, brighter future for veterinary medicine!

What’s Hound?

Hound is a venture-backed future of work platform for veterinary medicine. Thousands of veterinary practices across the US are partnering with Hound to find great talent, retain their workers, and improve access to veterinary care. Hound’s all-in-one talent platform streamlines hiring, drives employee engagement, and enables more veterinary caretakers to provide more care to more pets.

What’s Relief Rover?

Relief Rover is a leading veterinary relief platform founded by a lifelong relief veterinarian, Dr. Cindy Trice. Thousands of veterinarians and technicians rely on Relief Rover to connect with employers nationwide to offer practices temporary support. Relief Rover’s platform provides relief vets and techs with community, jobs, resources, and tools to help them start and grow their businesses.

A word from Dr. Cindy Trice

Relief Rover was born at my breakfast table as an idea to empower and support relief professionals and create a pathway for practices to easily connect with them. Taking this remarkable journey has opened my eyes to countless opportunities to make a positive impact on our profession, and the synergies with Hound will broaden and accelerate this effect..  

Combining forces with Hound will help Relief Rover reach our technical milestones faster, allowing for more tools, resources, and opportunities for relief professionals and employers to build relationships more efficiently. Hound’s sophisticated and engaging technology platform helps the workers of vet med find permanent or independent contract jobs and have a direct role in building positive practice cultures.

Relief Rover is delighted to join this community - strengthening the veterinary field by connecting an even wider pool of relief professionals and employers to create freedom and sustainability for the profession we love.

Why are we joining forces?

Hound and Relief Rover have both built leading talent platforms in veterinary medicine. Hound has been focused on full-time workers and retention software while Relief Rover has been focused on relief worker solutions. We’ve shared a mutual respect building alongside one another for the past couple of years. After exploring a potential partnership, we realized we had a rare opportunity to join forces in a bigger way.

A word from Andrew Luna

We are at an inflection point in veterinary medicine. Demand for pet care is far outpacing the veterinary industry and placing intense pressure on our ecosystem. We have no choice but to modernize our workforce and create new and efficient modes of delivering care. The future of work in veterinary medicine includes worker autonomy, career satisfaction, and accessible distributed care.

We started Hound to address this and transform the way people think about and do work in veterinary medicine. Flexible work is a core piece of that solution. Cindy and the team at Relief Rover are experts on flexible work, and we are excited to develop modern relief technology alongside them to equip and empower veterinary professionals. 

I am honored and thrilled to welcome Relief Rover to Hound. This partnership will help us further improve the lives of veterinary caretakers and the pets they’ve dedicated their lives to care for.

Who is supporting you?

We knew from the very beginning that we wanted to build a community-led company. One which was built in direct and constant collaboration with the people of veterinary medicine. We are incredibly grateful for the many partners, caretakers, practices, groups, ambassadors, affinity organizations, professional organizations, student organizations, evangelists, and investors who are supporting us on this journey.

Hound has secured a total of $3.8M in Seed funding this year bringing our total funding to $4.5M. Hound previously secured a $700K pre-Seed round in 2022 including several technology and veterinary angels and Leap Venture Studio, plus over 100 frontline veterinary workers who participated in our pre-seed crowdfunding campaign we made available to anyone in our industry.

Hound’s investors include Zeal Capital Partners, Roo Partners, Everywhere Ventures, VITALIZE, Miami Angels, R/GA Ventures, Michelson Found Animals, Companion Fund, several technology angels, and many veterinary angels (including some of you reading this - thank you all!)

"By joining forces, Relief Rover & Hound are poised to pioneer the future of work in veterinary medicine and revolutionize how we care for the people who care for our pets. This acquisition truly excites us as it opens new doors for innovation, collaboration, and impact, ultimately improving the lives of pets and veterinary professionals. We've been fortunate to be a part of both companies’ journeys, and are so excited to see such powerful partnerships happening across the Leap Venture Studio & Academy community. This marks an exciting milestone in the growth of our community and reflects our commitment to supporting founders who are building a smarter world for pets."

— Rachel Sheppard, Director of Ventures, Leap Ventures

"With comprehensive solutions that enable efficient staffing and drive employee engagement, Hound is creating opportunities and improving experiences for veterinary workers. With this acquisition, Hound officially enters the relief veterinary space and welcomes thousands of new professionals and practices to the Hound ecosystem. This acquisition further establishes Hound as a leading veterinary talent platform. The U.S. has more homes with pets than with children, and Zeal is excited to support workers pursuing opportunities in this large and growing field.”

— Nasir Qadree Founder and Managing Partner, Zeal Capital Partners

"I believe the future of veterinary medicine just got a little stronger today with the combination of two platforms that support those who support our pets – Relief Rover and Hound. I have been fortunate to see the birth of Relief Rover, a platform connecting relief veterinary professionals to opportunities and each other, and now today’s exciting announcement of these two like-minded start-ups joining together for the good of the profession. Andrew’s passion for the industry while building leading-edge tools will bring better solutions for veterinary professionals, making it a great fit for Relief Rover. Cindy shines as a role model entrepreneur through her tireless efforts on behalf of the relief veterinary profession, launching Relief Rover to connect a diverse and largely disconnected community and provide them with the tools they need to thrive. I’m looking forward to continuing to support Cindy and Andrew’s mission to help the people of vet med work how they want, love their work, and care for more pets.”

— Jim Cohen, Angel Investor

What’s next?

You will continue to receive the support you’ve come to expect from Relief Rover and Hound. Over the next several months, we will be working very closely with our community and customers to collaboratively build the workforce solutions you need most.

Hound’s mission is to create a world where veterinary professionals work how they want, love their work, and care for more pets. We are working steadfast on that mission and look forward to the many great things we will accomplish together with all of you. Thank you sincerely for all of your wonderful support!