Client Spotlight: Rita Wang, founder of Mutopia
Rita Wang has already crossed several continents in her entrepreneurial journey. Her latest stop is Canada, where the founder of Mutopia is preparing to launch a marketplace that connects pet owners with professional groomers, an idea shaped by years of lessons from Silicon Valley, Suzhou, and now the AC:Startup Visa program.
From Silicon Valley to Suzhou
Rita Wang’s entrepreneurial journey has taken her across the globe. Wang first left her home in China when she was 18 to study in Europe, followed by a stint in the U.S. for her graduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania. By the age of 24, Wang had founded her first startup, Valsfer, in Silicon Valley, raising US$1 million for a platform that connected young product designers with manufacturers.
Growth stalled, however, and the venture closed after three years. But that didn’t stop Wang’s dream.
“Once you are an entrepreneur, you are always an entrepreneur,” she said.
Back in China, Wang moved to Suzhou to help a friend with their startup before launching a second venture with her partner, an experienced pet groomer who owned two large shops.
Together, they developed a SaaS platform that offered small pet-care retailers an online storefront and a digital back office. The tool gained traction, but China’s strict pandemic lockdowns throttled offline businesses, forcing Wang to slow down operations.
Spotting global potential in pet care
Wang’s interest in building a pet-focused platform comes naturally. Her home is filled with dogs and cats that she has adopted, one of which walked across her keyboard as we were speaking.
Living in the U.S. helped Wang identify a gap where owners often struggle to find qualified groomers. According to Capital One, U.S. pet owners are expected to spend $157 billion on their pets by the end of 2025, including. $13 billion on grooming and boarding services.
Her answer to the challenge of finding a reputable groomer is Mutopia.
“It’s more like a platform for pet owners to find the groomers,” she said of Mutopia.
Instead of selling a SaaS platform software to stores, the new venture is a two-sided marketplace, similar to Uber or Airbnb, matching pet owners with verified groomers.
Choosing Canada and the AC:Startup Visa
After weighing a return to the U.S., where visa rules once forced her to wind down operations, Wang set her sights on Canada’s West Coast. Friends in Vancouver praised the city’s pace, climate, and openness to newcomers, and the Government of Canada’s Startup Visa offered a clear path for founders.
“The Startup Visa program is a perfect program for me, because I have experience and the drive to build something,” she said.
Unlike the H-1B in the U.S., the Startup Visa lets founders launch and run their own companies. Wang applied through the Accelerator Centre’s AC:Startup Visa stream and is awaiting final approval of her visa.
Mentorship that meets founders where they are
While her visa is in process, Wang has been virtual attending our AC:Startup Visa programs and meeting with mentors. She said the one-on-one mentor sessions stand out as one of the program’s best features.
“Every time we have a meeting, I always get such amazing insights and inspiration—that’s really helpful,” she said.
Mentors in marketing, product development, and scaling have helped her adapt plans for Mutopia to North American habits, regulations, and price points. The advice is integrated directly into the platform’s design, from user flow to groomer onboarding.
Building Mutopia for launch
The core of Mutopia will be a mobile-first marketplace where verified groomers set schedules, list services, and collect payments, while pet owners browse reviews, book appointments, and track their pets in real-time. A proprietary scoring system will highlight top groomers, and future releases will add walking, sitting, and veterinary referrals.
Wang plans to pilot the platform with a dozen Vancouver-area groomers, then expand it to Toronto. Revenue will be generated from a service fee on each booking and a subscription tier that provides analytics and marketing tools to groomers.
Looking ahead
Wang hopes to be in Vancouver by year-end with a platform in private beta, and a small local team on the ground.
For Mutopia, Canada’s pet-loving culture and supportive startup policies provide ample room for growth. For Wang, they provide the next stop on an entrepreneurial journey that shows no sign of slowing.
“I’m the person who cannot stay in one place for too long,” she said. “I always want to move around and meet new people and do new things,” she said. “The AC:Startup Visa is helping me build this business in Canada, which I think is amazing.”