{"id":632081,"date":"2025-12-14T14:40:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T14:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/632081\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T14:40:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T14:40:27","slug":"hello-vet-raises-15m-to-expand-uk-vet-clinics-with-transparent-pricing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/632081\/","title":{"rendered":"Hello Vet raises \u00a315m to expand UK vet clinics with transparent pricing"},"content":{"rendered":"

A London-based veterinary start-up aiming to bring greater price transparency to pet care has raised \u00a315 million to accelerate its expansion across the UK.<\/p>\n

\nHello Vet, which allows owners to stay with their pets as they go under and wake up from anaesthesia, plans to open at least 20 to 25 new clinics and hire around 200 vets and veterinary nurses over the next two years. The business says its growth will be paced carefully to ensure standards of care are maintained.<\/p>\n

James Lighton, co-founder and chief executive of Hello Vet, said the funding gives the company confidence to scale, but not at the expense of quality. \u201cWe have the funding to open at least 20 or 25 more clinics,\u201d he said. \u201cThe pace is really about how quickly we can be confident that quality of care isn\u2019t declining as we grow. We\u2019d rather do it well over four years than badly in a year and a half.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest funding round was led by US venture capital firm Addition and UK-based investor Future Positive, alongside 15 veterinary professionals who previously backed the business with \u00a36 million in 2023. Hello Vet currently has around 7,500 registered patients.<\/p>\n

The expansion comes amid growing scrutiny of pricing in the veterinary sector<\/a>. The Competition & Markets Authority reported in October that average vet prices rose by 63 per cent between 2016 and 2023, far outpacing inflation. It also found that pet owners pay an average of 16.6 per cent more at large veterinary groups than at independent practices. Six major chains now control about 60 per cent of UK clinics, compared with just 11 per cent a decade earlier.<\/p>\n

In response, the CMA has proposed requiring veterinary businesses to publish price lists on a comparison site, a move that could come into force from the end of 2026. Hello Vet already publishes estimated procedure costs online, although the company positions its prices as \u201cmiddle of the pack\u201d rather than the cheapest.<\/p>\n

Alongside its clinic model, Hello Vet offers a free WhatsApp triage service designed to help owners avoid unnecessary appointments. The service, which aims to respond within 15 minutes, is handled by teams at local clinics and has helped owners save more than \u00a375,000 over the past year, according to the company.<\/p>\n

Dr Oli Viner, co-founder and chief veterinary technology officer, said the service can make a meaningful difference. \u201cNot long after we opened, someone messaged in worried about their kitten\u2019s breathing,\u201d he said. \u201cThey sent us a video and we could see the kitten was actually purring. In a traditional clinic, they\u2019d have had to rush in, which would have been stressful and unnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hello Vet was founded in 2022 by Viner, Lighton and Alessandro Guazzi, opening its first clinic in July last year. It has since launched four additional sites in London and Hertfordshire, with a fifth due to open in January. The company plans to grow using a hub-and-spoke model, combining larger central clinics with smaller satellite locations in surrounding areas as it expands nationwide.<\/p>\n

\t \t\t\"Jamie \t \tJamie Young \t<\/p>\n

\t\tJamie is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, bringing over a decade of experience in UK SME business reporting.
\nJamie holds a degree in Business Administration and regularly participates in industry conferences and workshops.
\n
\nWhen not reporting on the latest business developments, Jamie is passionate about mentoring up-and-coming journalists and entrepreneurs to inspire the next generation of business leaders. \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A London-based veterinary start-up aiming to bring greater price transparency to pet care has raised \u00a315 million to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-632081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}