'A Wedding Registry' for Rescued Pets, Cuddly Raises $4M

Francesca Billington

Francesca Billington is a freelance reporter. Prior to that, she was a general assignment reporter for dot.LA and has also reported for KCRW, the Santa Monica Daily Press and local publications in New Jersey. She graduated from Princeton in 2019 with a degree in anthropology.

'A Wedding Registry' for Rescued Pets, Cuddly Raises $4M

Long gone are the outdoor adoption events and bake sales where animal rescue groups collect donations and convince dog lovers to foster a new litter. It's moved online, and startup Cuddly is offering the SaaS platform and marketing to fundraise remotely.

"Like a wedding registry for pets," said founder and CEO John Hussey.

The Seal Beach-based fundraising platform for groups rescuing animals announced this week it's raised $4 million in a Series A funding round led by Lead Edge Capital.


Founded in 2014, the company sets up "wish lists" on behalf of rescue shelter groups. Donors can help pay for things like squeaky toys or canned food, which Cuddly buys wholesale to turn a profit. They also bring in revenue through a tip feature on the site.

The Cuddly app allows these partners to manage campaigns from their phones, uploading photos and videos of furry animals and later sending updates and thank you's to donors. They can also link their social channels to a Cuddly account, "so when they need to raise funds, they simply click one easy button to share within their communities," Hussey said.

Donors can contribute to feline medical bills or doggy medicine, and even browse pet adoption listings directly on the site. The company is for-profit but doesn't take a cut of donations.

Cuddly CEO John Hussey

Hussey said shelter groups saw a surge in animal adoptions when stay-at-home orders were put in place. And more people started fostering as the pandemic forced shelters to operate on skeleton crews. Most of those new companions won't be going back to the kennel.

"People really rallied and stepped up to clear animals out of shelters," he said. "In this pandemic the animals are actually winning."

Donating to animal welfare isn't something new, Hussey said. What's unique about his company is its model amasses an array of rescue groups from around the world into one site where animal lovers can pick and choose animals or groups to send funds and products.

Cuddly has fundraised from 300,000 donors and currently works with over 2,100 animal welfare nonprofits. The company plans to expand its 20-person team and ramp up marketing efforts.

Business is up 350% since last June, Hussey said.

With the fresh funding round Hussey wants to turn his attention to building up the site's content for animal rescue groups beefing up marketing and adding pet care tips for Cuddly donors, 60% of whom are pet owners.

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Relativity Space Launches World’s First 3D-Printed Rocket, But Falls Short of Orbit

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College and previously covered technology and entertainment for TheWrap and reported on the SoCal startup scene for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

Relativity Space Launches World’s First 3D-Printed Rocket, But Falls Short of Orbit
Photo: Relativity Space

The largest 3D-printed object to ever fly had liftoff yesterday as Long Beach-based Relativity Space launched its Terran 1 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Terran 1 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at around 7 p.m. PST March 22. It was Relativity’s third attempt at sending Terran 1 to the cosmos and the nighttime launch was quite a sight to behold. The clarity of the night sky was perfect to see the blue jets of flame cascading out of Terran 1’s nine Aeon 1 engines, all 3D-printed, as the rocket took off.

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samsonamore@dot.la

What Is ‘Embodied Audio?’ And Can It Help Professional Sports Teams Fill Their Stadiums?

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College and previously covered technology and entertainment for TheWrap and reported on the SoCal startup scene for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

What Is ‘Embodied Audio?’ And Can It Help Professional Sports Teams Fill Their Stadiums?
Photo: Edge Sound Research

In 2020, the Minnesota Twins experimented with a new technology that brought fans the ability to physically feel the sounds they were hearing in the stadium in the back of their seats as part of a new immersive way to experience baseball.

The tech was made by Riverside-based startup Edge Sound Research, which built a mobile lounge – basically, a small seating section equipped with its technology and on wheels to travel around the stadium – for Twins fans to experience what it calls “embodied audio” around Target field. It was a bid on the Twins’ part to keep fans more engaged during the game, and Edge Sound Research CEO Valtteri Salomaki said the Twins were impressed.

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samsonamore@dot.la

B Capital’s Howard Morgan On The Key To Early Stage Investing

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

B Capital’s Howard Morgan On The Key To Early Stage Investing
Provided by LAV

On this episode of the LA Venture podcast, B Capital Group General Partner and Chair Howard Morgan discusses his thoughts on early stage investing and the importance of company ownership.


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