Unleashing our Investment in Pet Care: Pure Pet Food joins the Felix Pack
Felix Capital invests $16m and takes a significant minority stake to support Pure Pet Food with their UK & European ambition
Today there are almost twice as many US households with pets vs. children. In fact, as birth rates decline in younger generations, pet ownership is climbing: 58% of millennials are choosing owning pets over having children. As pets increasingly fulfil the natural human instinct to nurture, pet owners are increasingly treating their pets as kids–46% of owners spend the same or more on their pets than on their children and 53% would give up buying something for themselves in order to buy something for their pets.
At Felix, we always start our journey from the end-user’s perspective, witnessing their cultural and behavioural shifts. We approach opportunities through a thematic lens, analysing consumer behaviours that shape markets and create products inspired by love and loyalty from the communities they are going after. As we recently expressed in the Business of Fashion, we’ve been watching the relationship between humans and dogs evolve over the last decade. As a result, we have been dedicating significant time to the pet care market, driven by our conviction in the behaviour we’ve witnessed — pets are officially the new kids.
With the growing humanisation of pets, we’re naturally seeing humans invest more in their “fur babies,” resulting in increased spending on premium products and services, and driving growth across the industry. In 2023, the global pet care market size was estimated at $300bn and is forecasted to reach around $550–600bn by 2033 (growing at a 7% CAGR). Food remains the largest segment, holding a 55% market share.
The pet care opportunity
We made our first pet investment in 2022, in Lassie, a Stockholm-based pet insurance and pet health platform and we’ve continued to build conviction with regards to the growing opportunity since then. In 2024, Lassie grew to 100k active subscribers and GWP is growing 2.5x+ YoY — with Germany as its largest market, and France as the most recently launched.
We are obsessed with founders who are building a differentiated brand and authentic community, supported by a stellar product offering. We found this in Lassie, bringing this approach to pet health where trust and credibility are indispensable, and a strong reputation and brand is paramount. We’ve found these ingredients again in pet care, this time in Leeds, UK-based premium dog-food brand, Pure. In Pure, we see a branded proposition positioned as a product that benefits humans and dogs equally– through convenience and nutrition–demonstrating strong signs of customer love, as well as operational excellence.
Introducing Pure Pet Food
Pure’s founding story is unusual and not entirely straightforward, exemplifying that every founder’s journey is unique. Pure was founded eleven years ago by childhood friends and neighbours, Dan Valdur Eha and Mat Cockroft. The duo were recent university graduates and dog-owners, who were uninspired by the UK dog food market offerings (a market lacking alternatives to traditional kibble) and inspired by US-based dog food company, The Honest Kitchen. Finding solace in their mutual frustration, the duo conspired to create a European equivalent.
Early on in their respective careers in financial services, Dan and Mat started to formulate and sell their own version of human-grade, dehydrated dog food from Dan’s mum’s garage. They continued in this manner for two years before applying to Dragon’s Den. (See clip above)
While the pair decided not to accept the offer they received on Dragon’s Den, they caught the attention of Peter Pritchard, then-CEO of Pets at Home (a leading British retailer of pet supplies). Pritchard offered the company a £40k investment. Although this was a small investment, it provided immense value to the team and allowed Dan and Mat to join the business full-time, including purchasing a manufacturing facility. In hindsight, this was an early and bold move that has paid off considerably in the long term. With the help of their investment and production facility, they were able to grow the business to £1m in revenue.
In 2019, Dan and Mat saw the opportunity to raise their first institutional capital from Mercia. With this additional capital, the business was able to develop its senior leadership team further with a big milestone in April 2023 with the appointment of Roz Cuschieri as their CEO. Roz, who has vast experience in the FMCG industry, was previously CEO of Genius Foods, which she joined early on and scaled the business to approximately £50m and 400+ staff. She was also Commercial Director at Warburtons for 12 years prior to Genius.
Revolutionising the UK dog food market with personalised subscription, high quality ingredients, and sustainable manufacturing
Today, Pure has come a long way from its humble beginnings in Dan’s mum’s garage. The business has grown over 200% in the last 24 months to a £25m runrate and had their first months turning EBITDA positive. It has continued to differentiate itself through its convenient and nutritious form factor (simply requiring the addition of water to rehydrate the powder food into a wet food consistency) and, compared to most dog food offerings, its sustainable format — both in terms of product, shipping, and storage. The product requires no cooking, allows for light shipping (due to dehydration), and needs no cold storage (unlike fresh/frozen alternatives in the premium dog food segment). Additionally, the 100% subscription model lends itself to high LTV, with impressive retention and customers often converting multiple dogs per household. It specifically caters to medical issues and fussy eaters through its personalised recipes.
The company’s manufacturing capabilities, which started in Mat’s garage and graduated to a facility when the company was only at £1m of annual sales, have become a huge asset over time. In 2023, the business boasted 51% fully loaded gross margins, and increasing, which compares favourably to competitors that outsource production. The company has also built an impressive marketing muscle through its direct sales channel, developing a proprietary CRM app for its sales team as well as an internal ERP system for the warehouse — indicative of the company’s fundamentally data-driven approach.
As they further expand in the UK and launch new markets in Europe, Pure plans to expand their product offerings while continuing to provide pet owners with high-quality, personalised, and convenient products at competitive prices. We are thrilled to support Pure as they embark on an exciting next chapter, focused on building a truly loved brand for both dogs and their parents. At Felix, we look to support category-defining brands and visionary entrepreneurs that are helping to move the world forward.
