On February 22, 2018, a day known as Cat Day, a unique startup was born. It was RABO, a company that now provides the “Catlog®,” a collar-shaped activity tracker for cats, and the “Catlog_Board,” a device that automatically monitors a cat’s weight and excretion habits.
The idea of developing technology specifically for cats is quite unusual. Creating high-quality hardware, along with AI-powered software, and pioneering a new market was so challenging that investors deemed it to be an “S-Class difficulty in management.” However, six years later, RABO has established itself as a one-of-a-kind leader in cat-related technology, even expanding overseas in October 2023.
MPower Partners Fund invested in RABO in April 2022. “We weren’t consciously focused on ESG at first, but as we looked at our market, our business, and the core values of our company, we realized they naturally aligned with ESG principles,” says founder and CEO Yukiko Iyo.
Still, many may wonder how cat-tech and ESG are connected. In this article, we’ll explore RABO’s journey and uncover the link between cats and ESG.
Unique Technology That Dismisses the “Hobbyist” Criticism
In the early days, CEO Iyo faced skepticism, with some dismissing the company as just an extension of a cat lover’s hobby. What silenced the critics was the advanced technology based on bio-logging.
Bio-logging involves attaching small sensors to animals to visualize their activities, which are otherwise invisible to humans. While other services track pet behavior, RABO’s innovation lies in its cat-specific analysis technology. Most existing services cater primarily to dogs or only track basic activities, but RABO’s technology offers a comprehensive view of a cat’s life.
Working with experts in behavioral ecology measurement, animal data science, and veterinary medicine, RABO became the first in the world to make detailed classifications of cats’ bodily functions, such as drinking, eating, urinating, defecating, and vomiting. Additionally, their AI system can detect early signs of illness based on a massive database, significantly enhancing the well-being of cats.
The importance of this technology to cat owners is reflected in the high retention rate of Catlog® users. RABO has grown to serve around 30,000 cats, with a database containing over 15 billion data points, making it the world’s largest collection of cat behavior data.
Iyo attributes the company’s growth to viewing the issues surrounding cats as social challenges and believing that the Catlog® would become a standard in the future.
“I started this business with the determination that once we began, we couldn’t stop, because it would become something essential for both cats and their owners. It’s not just about having a cute pet.”
Improving the Quality of Life for Cats and Humans Contributes to a Sustainable Society
RABO’s mission is “to watch over cats’ lives with technology, so that cats and their parents around the world can be together for even one second longer.” It was during the funding process with MPower that they realized this mission aligned with the Social (S) component of ESG.
The idea of “enhancing the well-being of cats” is rooted in animal welfare, which is defined as “the physical and mental state of an animal in relation to the conditions in which it lives and dies.” It is said that this can be improved by achieving freedoms such as “freedom from discomfort” and “freedom from fear and distress.” This concept is a key factor in achieving a sustainable society and is considered an important factor in ESG investing.
Moreover, when a cat’s quality of life (QOL) improves, the well-being of the humans who live with them—considered family members—also improves. The happiness of spending time with loved ones, whether human or cat, is the same. However, despite the growing recognition of cats as family members, there have been few ways to monitor their well-being.
RABO provides exactly this solution, aiming for a world where “cherish bonds with the loved ones, and foster a caring world.” In pursuing this goal, the company naturally implemented ESG practices.
Efforts in S and E Naturally Emerged from the Love for Cats
Everyone at RABO loves animals, especially cats. This passion drives high employee engagement, with team members expressing their motivation to “help cats” and feeling “extremely happy” to work at RABO. For the 60% of employees who own cats, the ability to immediately test new features and consult with in-house veterinarians is a significant benefit.
RABO has also established employee benefits aligned with its mission, such as allowing up to one month of remote work when adopting a kitten under six months old and offering leave for bereavement occasions involving cats. These efforts were not consciously aimed at ESG but were born out of a desire to ensure the happiness of both cats and humans.
In the Environmental (E) domain, RABO designed the cardboard packaging for the Catlog_Board to be reused as a cat bed, and the cushioning material as a scratching post. Although standard packaging would be cheaper, the idea of reusability was born from the principle of “everything for the cats,” and it has been highly appreciated by the cats who use it.
Iyo explains that these initiatives were not driven by a deliberate focus on ESG, but by a commitment to solving social issues.
“ESG can sometimes become an end in itself, but perhaps the practice of ESG shouldn’t be something you consciously pursue as a fundamental goal. I believe RABO would not have grown this much if we had only been paying lip service to ESG.”
Leveraging a Massive Cat Database, RABO Aims to Become an Essential Infrastructure for Cat Owners Worldwide
In October 2023, RABO began rolling out its products in the United States and launched an English version of its app. Iyo, who had always considered global expansion, states, “The behavior of cats and the affection of their owners are universal. I saw no reason to limit ourselves to Japan.”
Although it’s still early days in their overseas expansion, Iyo feels confident, saying, “There doesn’t seem to be a significant difference in how cat owners react to Catalog® ‘s value compared to Japan.” Moving forward, RABO plans to focus on refining their messaging and identifying effective marketing channels.
Domestically, they also plan to expand their service reach and further communicate the value of Catlog®.
“Given that there has never been a service like Catlog® before, we constantly face the challenge of creating a market while operating a business. However, many users become fans of the service or product after they start using it, which has only strengthened my conviction that this is an essential business for cats and their owners. I believe only RABO, with its vast data, can improve the lives of cats worldwide.”
RABO’s Catlog® is now progressing beyond merely maintaining cats’ health (“turning a negative into zero”) and is moving towards enhancing QOL and love (“turning zero into a positive”). The first step in this direction was an update released on May 9, 2024, which added the ability to track cleaning activities, visualizing the improvement of a cat’s QOL through human care.
RABO plans to continue releasing various features to further enhance cats’ QOL. For more details on the latest update, you can check the information here.