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Coventry University graduate wins Dragons' Den style competition to help develop pet sitter vetting platform
Phil Brabban, Chief Librarian and Group Director of Learning Resources, Careers and Experience at Coventry University (left) and Faithful Freeman (right)
University news / Student news / AI and Digital Technologies
Friday 19 June 2026
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Pet owners could soon be given peace of mind over who looks after their animals thanks to a new platform designed by a Coventry University graduate.
Faithful Freeman, who graduated last year with a Master’s in Cyber Security, impressed judges at the university’s Dragons’ Den style competition with a pitch for a pet sitter verification platform called WalkIdentity.
Faithful, 31, was one of several aspiring entrepreneurs to pitch at the event, with prize funding made available by Santander UK through its long-standing partnership with Coventry University.
The competition is supported through Santander X, Santander’s global entrepreneurship initiative, which helps entrepreneurs and businesses access training, networks, challenges and awards to support their growth.
The winning ideas all benefited from a share of £8,000, with Faithful securing the largest prize of £5,000.
WalkIdentity is a verification platform for pet owners to make essential checks of those they employ to look after their pets. It ensures they know the ID of their dog walkers or pet sitters, whether they are DBS checked and their right to work.
I believe there is a big gap in the market for something like this - if you are a care provider in the UK you need to be certified with the CQC to look after humans but you don’t need anything like this to look after pets. Pet owners are often letting these people into their homes, to look after their animals, so I think it’s important that people are able to make these checks.
This is actually my second time in the competition. I didn’t win the funding first time but I took all the judges’ comments on board for my latest pitch. I made it a lot more business-focused, including more numbers and more details about the market strategy. It can be nerve-wracking pitching your idea but if you believe in what you’re doing and you’re passionate about it, it really helps.
My course at Coventry University was amazing; for my dissertation project I came up with the idea of a platform for detecting cyber bullying within institutions and I’ve re-utilised the logic behind this on WalkIdentity.
Faithful Freeman
Faithful added that the money would help grow the business and would assist with funding trademarking and a pet walker event in Coventry later in the year.
At Coventry University we believe entrepreneurship is a credible graduate outcome pathway for all aspiring students and graduates. The Dragons’ Den competition exists to give our founders community the platform to showcase their ideas, face genuine scrutiny and access the real funding they need to take that next step in their start-up journey.
For a student founder even £1,000 can mean the difference between an idea sitting in a notebook and a product in the hands of real customers. This academic year alone we have invested £21,000 in start-up funding grants directly into our founders community to help them realise their true entrepreneurial potential.
Husen Ismail, Business Start-Up Manager at Coventry University
Coventry University offers a range of support to help maximise students’ personal and professional growth.
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