Vet Ventures Europe, whose shareholders are IAM Petcare Growth Fund and BaltCap, made their first acquisition in Estonia – 100% of the shares of one of the most well-known private veterinary clinics, Tiina Toometi. This is an important step in creating a strong network of veterinary clinics in the Baltic and CRE region.

The leader of private veterinary clinics in Estonia

“Tiina Toometi” clinic is the first private clinic established in 1991 in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, which provides the highest level of veterinary services. The clinic currently has 19 employees, 7 of whom are veterinarians.

“This is a strategic step for the fund. After analyzing the market for a long time, we realized that although this clinic is not the largest in the market, the long-term experience, reputation and public visibility of its founder Tiina Toometi will be extremely useful in further development of the portfolio of clinics in Estonia. Tiina Toometi is one of the best-known veterinarians in Estonia, who often comments on current affairs related to animal treatment and has written three books for those who care for their pets at home. After the fund acquired the clinic T. Toometi has remained in the position of CEO and has become the fund’s representative and partner in Estonia,” says Aurimas Martišauskas, partner of “IAM Petcare Growth Fund”.

Estonia’s veterinary market is more advanced than that of other Baltic countries

Rapolas Markevičius, the fund manager of IAM Petcare Growth Fund, admits that when he started analyzing the Estonian veterinary market, he was pleasantly surprised that the quality of clinics and services in this country is much more advanced compared to Lithuania and Latvia.

“We spent a lot of time visiting clinics, communicating with veterinarians, delving into the Estonian market, where competition for veterinary services is much greater and consolidation processes are more advanced. Here the clinics are of a noticeably higher standard in terms of the level of equipment, the range and availability of services provided, the structuring of internal processes, and the availability of animal health insurance. Both Lithuania and Latvia can still learn a lot from this market. Since we are creating an international network of clinics, acquiring one of the best clinics in Estonia gives us an opportunity to apply what works best here when developing clinics in other countries,” says R. Markevičius.

A growing pet care market

The global pet healthcare market was valued at $18.67 billion in 2020 USD and it is forecasted to have an average annual growth of 9.2% in 2021-2028.

“The animal care market is constantly attracting growing amounts of investments over the last couple of decades. Our region is truly unique, as this market is still at a very early stage, we have an opportunity to consolidate small market players and achieve economies of scale,” says A. Martišauskas, partner of IAM Petcare Growth Fund.

“Vet Ventures Europe” in Lithuania has already acquired “Dr. Vet” network of 5 clinics, as well as opening a multifunctional 450 sq. m. Lazdynai Veterinary Hospital in Vilnius, and are 85% shareholders of “Jakovo Veterinarijos Centras“.