Pictured: John Bradford, PetScreening CEO
Volition Press: John, thank you so much for the time and congratulations on the funding round. Jumping right in, how would you describe PetScreening, and the company’s origin story?
John Bradford: PetScreening is a software platform that helps the rental housing industry manage pet policies, pet populations, and, importantly, accommodation requests for assistance animals – such as service animals and emotional support animals (ESAs) – to ensure they meet Fair Housing Act standards.
Before starting PetScreening, I was a property manager myself. I ran a shop for about 12 years and managed a couple thousand rental homes for investors. I’ve always been a pet lover – I’ve got two dogs and a cat – but as a landlord, I saw firsthand that pets introduce risk. They can damage floors, chew baseboards – you name it. Any living thing comes with some level of risk, pets and people alike.
So I built PetScreening for property managers like me. It’s a tool created by someone who lived those challenges, and I think that authenticity really shaped our product. From our initial launch, we were pretty close to the mark, and we’ve stayed true to that vision ever since.
VP: What does the scale of the business look like today?
JB: We’re currently in over 7 million rental units – about one in every seven long-term rentals in the United States. That includes everything from single-family homes to large multifamily buildings, affordable housing, student housing, manufactured housing, and even military base housing. We’re truly embedded across the long-term rental ecosystem.
VP: And part of the beauty of the model is that it’s free to owners, correct?
JB: Exactly. We operate as a B2B2C platform. We sell to property managers and asset owners – whether they manage buildings themselves or hire third-party operators – and they use our platform at no cost. We generate revenue by charging pet owners a small fee, typically $25-30 per year, when they register their household pet.
We collect robust information – breed, size, weight, vaccination records, microchip ID, vet details, photos, and even behavioral information like leash usage or vaccination diligence. We also handle reasonable accommodation requests for service animals and ESAs, and in those cases, we don’t charge anything.
VP: Beyond the core product, PetScreening has developed a few other tangential products – can you share more about Fido Alert, Tabby Alert, and BetterPet?
JB: Absolutely. I’m sensitive to fee fatigue among renters, so I always ask how we can bring more value to pet owners. One way was by acquiring BetterPet.com, a trusted content site we’ve built into a WebMD-like destination for pet health. Every article is written and reviewed by veterinarians, which is crucial in an age of AI. We want people to get reliable answers about their pets, whether they’re raising a new puppy or managing a senior cat.
Another area we’re passionate about is reuniting lost pets with their owners. Around 10 million pets go missing in the U.S. each year – and many never make it home. That’s heartbreaking. So we built Fido Alert and Tabby Alert – think Amber Alert, but for pets.
These are free services for any pet owner in the U.S., funded entirely by PetScreening. When someone signs up, we send them a medical-grade anodized aluminum tag with a unique ID number and QR code. If a pet goes missing and someone scans that tag, we collect the finder’s info and immediately notify up to 10 people in the pet’s alert network via SMS – not an app notification, a real text message.
So far, we’ve sent over 6 million texts and reunited more than 54,000 lost pets across all 50 states and Puerto Rico. We have around 2 million pets enrolled, and what’s exciting is that most of those users don’t even know about PetScreening. We’ve kept this mission separate – our goal is simply to help every lost pet find its way home.
VP: That’s incredible. PetScreening recently raised $80M in growth capital. Why did you decide to choose Volition as one of the key investment partners and how are you planning to put that funding to work?
JB: We were very methodical in selecting a partner. We had over 100 inbound inquiries and had Zoom calls with about 40 firms. Volition quickly stood out as an emotional favorite. Their PropTech and pet industry experience, with RealPage and ButterflyMX, and their investment in Chewy told us they understood both real estate and pets. That kind of alignment is rare.
We’ll use the capital to scale across several vectors. We’re doubling down on multifamily – expanding our sales team and marketing presence there. On the single-family side, the landscape is more fragmented with a lot of mom-and-pop operators, so we’re building a go-to-market motion to reach them as well.
VP: Before we wrap, anything else people should know about PetScreening?
JB: Yes. I would just say culture is everything to us. We operate by three core values: One, “everyone deserves an opportunity”. We employ Sam Jordan, a young man with Down Syndrome. He’s our office support specialist and helps clean whiteboards and walk employees’ dogs – he’s a huge part of our culture. Two, “make your mark” – we empower everyone to bring ideas. Some of our best innovations didn’t come from me – they came from the team. Three, “Laugh more and have fun” – we’re serious about results, but we have fun too. Finally, we also created a philanthropy called Down for Pets, where we pay adoption fees and first-year costs for dogs or cats adopted by individuals with Down Syndrome. It’s our way of helping connect rescue animals with people who would benefit from their companionship. We’ve already issued ~30 grants, and it’s been deeply meaningful – we’re saving pets’ lives and enriching human ones at the same time.
VP: Thank you for the time and congratulations on all of the success to date. We look forward to our continued partnership.
JB: My pleasure and talk soon.
