Authority Brands has purchased Ashburn-based pet care franchise Woofie’s.
Co-founded in Ashburn in 2004 by Amy Reed and Leslie Barron, Woofie’s is a professional mobile pet service offering pet sitting, dog walking and mobile pet spa services. Woofie’s began franchising in 2018 and has four locations in Virginia.
The acquisition of Authority Brands marks the launch of the company’s incubator for emerging brands in the home services space. The incubator aims to leverage the company’s extensive experience in home services to accelerate the growth and development of smaller franchise concepts that have a proven system and strong management.
“Woofie’s is a great addition to the Authority Brands portfolio as Amy and Leslie have built a strong brand with a passionate following,” said CEO Rob Weddle in announcing the acquisition. “In addition, we are excited to leverage our extensive experience in home services to fuel the expansion of Woofie, as well as many other emerging service brands.”
Companies under the Authority Brands umbrella include home service brands The Cleaning Authority, Homewatch CareGivers, America’s Swimming Pool Company, Mosquito Squad, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, Mister Sparky, One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning, Monster Tree Service, STOP Restoration, and DoodyCalls Color world house painting. They are active in the home cleaning, home care, swimming pool repair and maintenance, pest control services, plumbing, electrical and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (“HVAC”), tree care, restoration, pet waste removal and painting sectors respectively.
“With the launch of Authority Brands’ incubator, we are looking for innovative new concepts that seek to leverage Authority Brands’ expertise in building household service brands. We were impressed with Amy and Leslie’s leadership and know they are a great fit for our new incubator program. Amy and Leslie have built a company and culture with tremendous potential, and we’re excited to help them grow exponentially,” said Ashish Karandikar, Board Member of Authority Brands’ parent company and Partner at Apax.
“When we launched Woofie’s in 2004, we did it to share our passion and love for pets in our local community. As a member of the Authority Brands family, we’re excited to bring our leading pet care services to many more communities and pet lovers. The resources and experience Rob and his team bring to Woofie’s are immense and we can’t wait to grow our brand together,” said co-founder Amy Reed.
