rollin' in

Clever Houston mobile vet clinic rolls out big plans for Texas expansion

Rockin Pets, Rollin' Vets hopes to be in Austin and Dallas by March 2022.

Photo courtesy of Rollin' Vets

An innovative Houston company has closed a fresh round of funding in hopes of rolling its service out statewide.

Rockin' Pets, Rollin' Vets, a full-service mobile veterinary clinic based in Houston, has closed a $5 million equity raise with plans to expand across the Lone Star State. Founded by Dr. Katie Eick, who is the company's CEO, Rollin’ Vets Group flips the switch on pet health care by bringing vets to its patients' homes.

This fresh funding helps Eick take that first step toward expansion. According to a news release, Rockin’ Pets, Rollin’ Vets expects to have a presence in Dallas and Austin by March of next year.

“This equity raise allows us to not only hire additional talent, but also increase our mobile clinic fleet, while expanding into other cities at an expedited rate. There is a vast opportunity to serve animals and people that need non-traditional veterinary care in other Texas markets. We are ready to tap into these markets and bring convenient, state-of-the-art care straight to pet owners’ doorsteps,” says Eick in the release.

Currently, the company has five mobile units staffed by seven veterinarians and 12 skilled veterinary technicians. The company’s capabilities include wellness and illness exams, in-house labs, radiology, end-of-life care, routine surgeries, laser therapy and dental procedures — all within the Greater Houston area. The service plans to expand into The Woodlands in January.

Last year, the company raised $1 million in angel investment and crowdfunding on NextSeed. Patrick Lewis, CFO for Rollin’ Vets Group, says in the release that the capital was raised by a number of individuals, many of whom had prior investments in the pet care industry.

Eick founded her company in 2015 and was seeing steady growth as delivery and on-demand services like Uber, DoorDash, etc. increased in use and awareness of mobile services. Eick previously told InnovationMap that the pandemic really cemented the efficacy of mobile services.

While the company is focused on a Texas expansion for now, it's been in Eick's plan to expand even more broadly for a while.

"We're aiming to be a nationwide brand," Eick previously told InnovationMap.

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This story originally appeared on InnovationMap.

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Cruise control

Self-driving Tesla Robotaxi service now rolling on Houston streets

X/Tesla Robotaxi

Tesla Robotaxi service has launched in Houston.

Tesla’s Robotaxi service has taken to the streets of Houston. In a brief statement Saturday, April 18 on its X social media account, Tesla Robotaxi says the autonomous rideshare service just launched in Texas’ two biggest metro areas — Houston and Dallas.

“Try Tesla Robotaxi in Dallas & Houston!” Tesla CEO Elon Musk says in a reposting on X of the Robotaxi announcement.

One of Robotaxi’s competitors, Alphabet-owned Waymo, beat the Tesla service to the Dallas, Houston, and Austin markets. Another competitor, Amazon-owned Zoox, has Dallas flagged for its autonomous rideshare service.

Robotaxi previously kicked off in Austin, where Tesla is based and manufactures electric vehicles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Nearly 50 Robotaxis operate in Austin, where the service’s inaugural rides happened last year, and more than 500 in the San Francisco area.

Of the three rides logged in a 31-square-mile area in Dallas as of Monday morning, the average fare was $7.96 and the average trip was 3.5 miles, according to an online tracker of autonomous rideshare services. The tracker showed only one Robotaxi was on the roads in Dallas.

As of Monday morning, a 25-square-mile area in Houston had two Robotaxis on the road, according to the online tracker. The average fare for five recorded rides was $11.34 and the average trip was six miles.

“We want Robotaxi pricing to be simple and easy for you to understand,” according to the Robotaxi website. “Initially, as part of our introductory program, we will charge a simple, affordable rate plus applicable taxes and fees for all rides within the available service area.”

The tracker shows the Robotaxi in Dallas did not have a human aboard to monitor each trip, and only one of Houston’s two Robotaxis did not have a human monitor in the driver’s seat.

For now, all passengers ride in Tesla Model Y cars. Robotaxi operates from 6 am-2 am daily.

To use the service, you first must download the Robotaxi app, which works only on iPhones.

Robotaxi lets you stream music and adjust climate settings and seat positioning from the Robotaxi app or the vehicle’s touchscreen. Climate and media settings are stored in your Robotaxi profile and automatically transfer from one vehicle to another. If you own a Tesla, certain profile settings and media preferences are available in your own car as well as in a Robotaxi.

In January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Musk said a “widespread” network of driverless rideshare vehicles would be operating in the U.S. by the end of this year, CNBC reported.

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