Small Door Vet Arms for Expansion with New C-Suite and $55M War Chest

NEW YORK, NY – December 03, 2025 – Small Door Veterinary, a company aiming to disrupt the $35 billion U.S. veterinary market with a tech-forward, membership-based model, is making a clear statement of intent. Following a record year of profitability and the closing of a $55 million capital raise, the company has strategically fortified its executive ranks, appointing Mikhayl Alam as Chief Financial Officer and Collin Russell as its first Head of People. These hires signal a pivotal transition from a promising regional player to a national contender, preparing the organization for the immense operational and cultural challenges of rapid scaling.

The move comes as the pet care industry grapples with a unique set of market forces. Surging pet ownership, coupled with a greater willingness from owners to spend on premium care, has created a fertile ground for innovation. Yet, the traditional veterinary sector is strained by a nationwide shortage of veterinarians, widespread professional burnout, and consumer frustrations with long wait times and opaque pricing. It is this gap that Small Door, and competitors like the well-funded Bond Vet, are racing to fill. With six new locations slated for the next year, Small Door is betting that its new leadership can build the financial and cultural infrastructure needed to scale its high-touch model without succumbing to the pressures that plague the industry.

The Financial Blueprint for National Scale

Small Door’s recent $55 million capital injection, a Series C round, provides the fuel for its expansionary ambitions. The financing was strategically structured, comprising a $35 million equity investment led by healthcare-focused growth equity firm Valspring Capital, with participation from existing investors, and a $20 million debt facility from Bridge Bank. This hybrid approach provides both long-term growth capital and flexible working capital to accelerate clinic openings and technology enhancements across its core Northeast and Mid-Atlantic markets.

Enter Mikhayl Alam, the new CFO tasked with deploying this capital. His resume reads like a playbook for scaling consumer-facing brands. With over 15 years of experience, Alam’s background is not in traditional healthcare but in high-growth, multi-location consumer businesses. His tenure as VP of Strategic Finance at LaserAway, the nation’s largest aesthetic dermatology provider with over 200 locations, is particularly telling. There, he was instrumental in shaping strategy around capital allocation and analytics at scale. Before that, his leadership roles at L’Oréal, including managing finance for its direct-to-consumer and media divisions, honed his expertise in delivering profitability in fiercely competitive markets.

This experience is critical for Small Door. A membership model relies on predictable revenue and high customer retention, but profitability hinges on meticulous cost management, efficient real estate strategy, and optimized unit economics for each clinic. Alam's role will extend beyond simple bookkeeping; he will be responsible for building the financial architecture to support disciplined growth, ensuring that as the company expands into new markets like Philadelphia and Atlanta, it does so sustainably. As he stated upon his appointment, a key focus is to “safeguard the values that built this company,” suggesting an awareness that financial strategy must support, not undermine, the brand's premium promise.

Scaling Culture Before Clinics

While capital fuels expansion, culture sustains it. Recognizing this, Small Door has made the concurrent, and equally strategic, hire of Collin Russell as its first Head of People. For a company whose primary differentiator is a superior, hospitality-driven experience, this role is not a support function but a core part of the growth engine. Russell’s background is a testament to this philosophy, having scaled teams and culture at some of the most recognizable high-growth, experience-focused brands.

His time as VP of People at the skincare brand Heyday, which grew from four to over 35 locations during his tenure, and his earlier role at the fitness phenomenon SoulCycle as it expanded from 20 to over 90 studios, provide direct experience in a critical challenge: maintaining brand consistency and employee morale during a rapid brick-and-mortar rollout. These companies, like Small Door, sell an experience and a sense of community, not just a product or service. The risk of diluting that culture is the single greatest threat to their brand equity during expansion.

Florent Peyre, Small Door’s Co-Founder and CEO, acknowledged this directly, noting the goal is to “guide us into the future” while maintaining a “caring, small business culture.” This is Russell's mandate. He is tasked with building the systems for talent acquisition, development, and retention that can ensure every new veterinarian, technician, and front-desk staff member in every new clinic embodies the Small Door ethos. As Russell himself said, “By investing in extraordinary talent and fostering a culture grounded in excellence, we ensure every member experience reflects the quality and compassion pets deserve.”

Redefining the Veterinary Experience

At the heart of Small Door's strategy is a fundamental reimagining of the client-provider relationship in pet care. The company’s model is a direct response to the pain points of the traditional clinic experience. The $149 annual membership fee per pet is the entry point to a suite of services designed for the modern pet owner, including one included exam, unlimited 24/7 telemedicine via a proprietary app, and guaranteed same-day or next-day appointments.

This approach directly tackles issues of accessibility and convenience. The company’s commitment to “human healthcare standards” is most visible in its physical spaces. Clinics are AAHA-accredited—a quality benchmark only 15% of veterinary hospitals in the U.S. achieve—and are designed with insights from animal scientists to be stress-free environments. Features like private waiting nooks, odor-minimizing air systems, and fear-free handling techniques aim to reduce anxiety for pets and their owners.

Furthermore, the model addresses financial uncertainty with a “no surprise bills” policy, providing clear cost breakdowns before services are rendered. By employing salaried veterinarians and offering benefits like student debt repayment, Small Door also aims to create a more sustainable and attractive work environment, mitigating the burnout that is rampant in the industry. This holistic approach—combining technology, thoughtful design, transparent pricing, and a focus on employee well-being—forms the core of its disruptive potential.

The Inherent Tension of Scaling a Premium Service

Despite the clear strategy and strong financial backing, Small Door’s path forward is not without significant challenges. The very premium, high-touch experience that defines its brand is inherently difficult to replicate at speed and scale. As the company expands, it will face increasing pressure on multiple fronts. The competitive landscape is intensifying, with rivals like Bond Vet also expanding aggressively in many of the same urban markets.

Moreover, the early signs of strain that can accompany rapid growth have already surfaced in public forums. While many customer reviews praise the model, a growing number of critiques point to concerns over pricing, with some perceiving the services as significantly more expensive than traditional alternatives. More critically for a brand built on quality, some long-term members have noted a perceived decline in service, a lack of care continuity with different veterinarians at each visit, and less personalized interactions as the company has grown.

This is the central tension the new leadership team must manage. Alam's financial stewardship will be tested to maintain profitability without reinforcing perceptions of being overpriced. Russell’s primary challenge will be to build a scalable cultural framework that prevents the erosion of the personalized, “small business” feel that early adopters valued. The success of Small Door’s national expansion will ultimately depend not just on how many new clinics it can open, but on whether it can deliver its signature compassionate and high-quality experience consistently within every single one of them.