Meet the founder of a new platform helping adopters find cat

In September 2020, Haley Ong was looking to adopt a cat. She had been diagnosed with clinical depression and she thought a cat would be a good companion to help her cope. I talked to shelter representatives through WhatsApp and physical walk-ins, and went through multiple platforms, such as Carousel and Gumtree. The 28-year-old recounted that I went to independent rescue groups. She wasn't able to adopt one successfully despite having shortlisted a couple of cats for months. The screening process was very repetitive, she told CNA Women, and adopters have to passively wait for the shelters to respond.

Ong was born and raised in Kedah, Malaysia. He is no stranger to animal rescue work. Her parents are active rescuers, and they have built their garage to feed and care for injured and abandoned street animals. It made me really curious: there are so many street animals out there, but why do I still have to adopt one? I talked to many of my pet owner friends, and they told me to buy. What if I don't want to buy? Ong soon realized that there was no centralised platform in the market to help adopters like her find a suitable pet. People were using non-regulated platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and phone calls. Adopters that use platforms such as Gumtree and Carousel are at risk of being scammed, as these platforms do not have an accountability policy, said Ong. She said that no one was touching the digital space. More people working from home despite the Pandemic, the rise in pet ownership in Singapore has resulted in a rise in the number of people who work from home. Shelters still have a lack of manpower and resources. Ong said there are the main obstacles to adopting a pet, as well as the lack of a systemic and efficient tracking platform. In July 2021, Ong launched an online app Pawtner in order to automate the adoption process, allowing users to browse animal profiles at their fingertips.

Pawtner has tied up with pet shelters and pet care retailers to prioritize the safety of the animals, as well as suitability of adopter profiles. Some people call us the Skyscanner of Pet Adoption because they come to the platform with the idea of looking at all the data before making a decision, said Ong. This means that adopters can look at an animal profile and shelter requirements, such as housing preference, all in one place. Other important details include the shelter's name, rescue history, vaccination records and contact number.

Ong said that it's important to verify an adopter's profile and make sure they are adopting with good intentions for safety reasons. This can be done by facilitating home trials, home trials and a tracking system to track dispute cases. In seven months before the launch, Ong pitched her idea to an ex-colleague, Mai Linh, who later became her co-founder. Mai Linh reached out to an engineer friend who had his own team. They agreed to join the pair, and they worked on a prototype and pitched the idea to local shelters. This was after two months of research, ideation and groundwork that took them to five local shelters to understand their operations.

Angel investors came on board just a month after launch, and e-commerce giant Shopee reached out to sponsor app users with a $100 voucher for every successful adoption. Ong said that boosted our beginning and we started strong. The team is ambitious in digitalising the business and has no plans of slowing down. They are thinking of going into the non-fungible NFT space in the long-term. They have collaborated with an NFT creator to create a digital replica of the shelter animals to boost fundraising efforts in support of cat shelters in the region.