April 15, 2022

The Honest Kitchen, TellTail, Wagr

🐶 Industry News

– The US pet industry grew 14% to $123 billion in 2021, according to market research firm Packaged Facts. This is well above the 10% gain we saw in 2020. Food and treats, the largest segment of pet spending, hit $51 billion last year.

– Elanco, the world’s second largest animal health company, is launching a new business called BiomEdit, that will create therapeutics for pets based on microbiome science (the bacteria and other microbes that live inside all humans and animals).

– A judge threw out a lawsuit from IBM against Chewy that claimed the online pet retailer’s website and mobile app violated several IBM patents. Chewy had previously rejected a $36 million licensing offer

💰 Financing & Deals

• The Honest Kitchen, a San Diego maker of human-grade pet food, landed a $150 million investment from Monarch Alternative Capital. Founded in 2002, the 75-employee company saw sales increase by 40% last year. The company sells its dog and cat food online and in over 6,000 retail locations.

• TellTail, a Los Angles startup creating a platform for pet breeders, closed a $3.4 million Seed round. The company was founded last year by a pair of MIT grad students.

• Wagr, an Indian company that offers pet telehealth services has secured a $550,000 round to create the first GPS tracker for the country.

🤷 Somewhat Relevant

• New study finds that vegan dog food is healthier than meat dog food.

• The Digital Pets Company is launching a collection of AI-driven dog NFTs.

• There is little evidence that music is relaxing to dogs.

💼️ Pet Industry Jobs

• Sales Operation Manager – PetDX (Remote)

• Affiliate Marketing Manager – Chewy   (Boston)

• Manager, Search Marketing – Zoetis (New Jersey/Remote)