How Petscribers scaled from veterinary frustration to a funded startup with support of the Barclays Female Founder Accelerator, powered by AccelerateHER
When Dr Angela Jones and Dr Emma Pemberthy founded Petscribers, they were not chasing a market opportunity. They were solving a problem they faced every day as practising vets: the manual, inefficient, error-prone, and fraud-prone written prescription process. As Angela puts it “veterinary written prescriptions are Blockbuster, in a world of Netflix.”
Petscribers is a pet prescription platform transforming how written prescriptions are created, shared, and fulfilled. They have created the UK’s first pet medication comparison website, allowing pet owners to compare prices from government-approved pharmacies. For vets, smart e-prescribing software reduces the time taken to create a prescription by 80%, with guard rails minimising human error, designed to ease the burden on time-poor veterinary surgeons. The platform is built by vets, for vets and the owners who depend on them.
The two founders met over a decade ago in a mixed practice in the Cotswolds. Angela had studied Veterinary Science at the University of Bristol before building a career in equine medicine, overseeing the care of the Metropolitan Police horses and eventually becoming a Clinical Director. Emma took a different route: Natural Sciences at Cambridge, then investment banking, before retraining as a vet and never looking back. Different paths, but the same shared vision.
They would often cross paths late in the day, when paperwork stretched long past clinic hours, bonded by what Angela describes as a shared “love of cardiology and deep hatred of veterinary admin.” When Emma raised the idea that would become Petscribers in 2021, framing it as “an all-encompassing platform to streamline prescriptions and give owners clarity and choice,” Angela’s response was characteristically grounded: “That’s great, EmPem. Hold that thought. I’m pregnant.”
Building around real life, not startup mythology
The founding story is one of persistence as much as vision.
Progress followed the shape of their lives, with wireframing in 2023 around house moves and growing families rather than fixed timelines.
Both founders remained in clinical practice throughout, Angela working out-of-hours in equine medicine and Emma three days a week in small animal practice.
In 2024, their husbands gave them an ultimatum. Either build the platform or stop talking about it. They gave them a six-month runway to see if Petscribers had legs. Emma and Angela jumped. They employed a CTO, Victor Parchment, to build the platform, in stages, in line with their vision. There was no outside safety net.
What changed the trajectory was community.
The impact of the Barclays Female Founder Accelerator, powered by AccelerateHER
In January 2025, Emma joined the Barclays Eagle Labs Female Founder Accelerator, powered by AccelerateHER. The programme gave Petscribers more than knowledge: it gave them a network, structure, and they found a fractional CMO in Michelle McClure, who helped translate the founders’ instinctive understanding of the problem into a coherent, investor-ready go-to-market strategy.
Shortly after, the Competition and Markets Authority published its working group paper on the veterinary sector. Petscribers submitted a response, secured a meeting with the CMA, and saw their model referenced as a potential remedy. Validation from regulators gave the pre-seed round exactly the momentum it needed.
At the London Showcase in March 2025, Petscribers won the People’s Choice Award.
In July 2025, Petscribers closed their pre-seed funding round at £294,900, some 20% above target. Among the investors was Investing Women Angels (IWA), whose involvement marked far more than a transaction. IWA’s founder Jackie Waring had already been mentoring the Petscribers team through Barclays Eagle Labs. When IWA came in as investors, it represented the full circle moment of women backing women: mentorship, acceleration, and ultimately capital.
As AccelerateHER CEO Elizabeth Pirrie noted:
“Petscribers had grabbed every opportunity presented to them. That appetite, combined with regulatory tail winds and 96% of beta users saying they would use the platform again, made the investment case straightforward.”
Petscribers welcomed two new board observers: Anne Doyle, Senior Operations Director at Skyscanner and IWA member, and seasoned investor Chris Elliot. The funds went towards the fully integrated e-prescribing platform, due to launch Summer 2026, with a clear path to profitability.
Why founder support ecosystems matter
For Angela, the measure of success is simple:
“We’re building the software we wished we’d had in practice, making it easier for vets to prescribe, easier for owners to purchase and easier for pharmacies to fulfill. By reducing the barriers to purchasing medication online, Petscribers supports the UK’s 16 million pet-owning households, improving access to medication, transparency and animal welfare.”
Petscribers is proof that when the right support structures exist for female founders, mentorship, acceleration, and patient, mission-aligned capital, the outcomes follow.
Applications are now open for the next Barclays Female Founder Accelerator cohort
The Barclays Female Founder Accelerator, powered by AccelerateHER, exists to help ambitious female founders access the expertise, network, mentorship and business growth- readiness support needed to scale sustainably.
Designed for women building high-growth businesses, the programme combines practical workshops, peer learning, strategic mentoring and direct access to experienced operators, investors and ecosystem leaders.
For founders like Emma and Angela, the value goes beyond business strategy. It is access to a trusted network that understands the realities of building while balancing leadership, life and growth.
Whether you are refining your proposition, preparing to raise investment, strengthening your go-to-market strategy or looking to connect with other ambitious founders, the accelerator is designed to help you move faster with the right support around you.
Who should apply?
The programme is ideal for female founders who are:
- Building innovative, scalable businesses
- Ready to accelerate growth
- Looking to become investment ready
- Seeking strategic mentorship and peer support
- Wanting to connect with investors and industry experts
Previous founders from the programme have gone on to secure investment, partnerships, industry recognition and significant commercial traction.
Petscribers is one of many examples of what can happen when female founders are backed not just with advice, but with access, visibility and belief.
Apply for the Barclays Female Founder Accelerator, powered by AccelerateHER
Applications for the next cohort are now open.
Applications close Friday 12th June, 2026.
If you are a female founder building a business with ambition, this could be the network, structure and momentum you need for your next stage of growth.
What our Accelerator Alumni said:
