Tractive, the leading European supplier of GPS trackers for dogs and cats, obtained growth financing of 35 mio dollars (approx. 29.5 mio euros) from American lead investor Guidepost Growth Equity at the end of May. The company aims to use the money to consolidate its existing market leadership in Europe and to develop and open up further markets for its pet locating device, focusing in particular on expansion to the USA. Tractive expects the USA to become its biggest single market in the near future.
Chris Cavanagh, general partner of Guidepost, and Andrew Wait, former managing director of Ancestry and Lynda.com, will join the board of directors at Tractive. Attila Balogh, former chairman and CEO of Partner in Pet Food (PPF), is also involved in the investment initiative.
With the new financing, Tractive intends to invest strongly in customer acquisition and product development. Andrew Bleiman is joining Tractive as executive vice-president for North America, while Martin Theissen, former marketing manager at Trivago, will shortly take up the post of vice-president of marketing.
Tractive will also invest in strengthening its market position in Europe further. This will include new offices for over 250 staff. These are currently being built close to the current company headquarters in Pasching.
