(Pulso Social) Petsy is closing out the year with a bang. The Mexico-based e-commerce platform for all things pets has closed a million-dollar syndicated funding round (MXN$13 million) lead by Venture Partners, with participation from Capital Invent and Dila Capital.

We first met Petsy back in August, when we interviewed company founders Pablo Pedrejón García and Toby Clarence-Smith. Both European and Wharton grads, they didn’t always have their sights set on Mexico for starting out their entrepreneurial careers. But after digging a little deeper, the two found that the Mexican market offered a number of advantages. Clarence-Smith explained at the time:

The fundamentals in Mexico are there – it’s a big country, and it’s growing very fast. From a macroeconomic perspective, it’s a good time to be in Mexico. And the government seems to have its head screwed on pretty tight.

In a short time, Petsy has moved into a leadership position in Mexico’s pet care e-commerce sector – an industry with an estimated worth of US$2.2 billion. Much of its success has come as the result of high standards of customer service as well as the encouragement of consumer engagement by way of its online community.

Moving forward, Petsy will continue to build momentum. “Through this investment round, the most relevant players in the e-commerce space have joined the team,” Pedrejón García remarked in the funding announcement. “Together, we will achieve Petsy’s number one objective: to offer the best customer service in the market.”

Heberto Taracena, Managing Director of Capital Invent MX, provided insight into his decision to invest:

Capital Invent decided to join the investment attracted by the entrepreneurs’ commitment to excellence and encouragement. Petsy has great potential in the internet and until now the execution has been flawless. We trust that it will be a part of the generation that transforms the e-commerce in Mexico.

For Venture Partners, a Third E-Commerce Play

This investment marks Venture Partners’ third online retail pick; it has already backed travel booking platform ViajaMex and fashion e-commerce platform Gaudena. Why now go in the direction of pets? Federico Antoni, Co-founder of Venture Partners Mexico, explained in an e-mail to PulsoSocial:

Unlike the rest of the retail markets, the pets niche has been growing worldwide at double-digit numbers for the past years. Pet products are almost inflexible in terms of price elasticity, and we trust that the convenience of buying online and extraordinary customer service will attract clients to become recurring customers.

As to why the team has gone with Petsy, Antoni explained, “We picked Petsy as it has inserted itself in a very attractive market, but especially because it is led by a couple of outstanding managers that have demonstrated a flawless start.”