9 fast-growing pet food startups in Europe that claim to offer the best for your pets

A majority of pet owners treat their pets as their own children and want the very best for them. However, most of these pet parents are unaware of the nutritional requirements of their pets and end up feeding them sub-par food. This leads to a number of nutritional deficiencies and can even result in heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and pancreatitis.

But, the recent rise in awareness about nutrition and healthy lifestyle has transcended upon the pet-food industry as well. People have also started focusing on premium alternatives for pets. To address this, many pet food startups have come up with solutions that help consumers find the right food for their pets.

Some of these pet food startups ensure to work with dieticians and customise the right food that each individual pet needs. Therefore, we, at Silicon Canals, have come up with a list of pet food startups (sourced from Dealroom) that are growing rapidly in Europe right now and contributing to the global pet products is estimated to be worth $100B (nearly €83.4B).

Butternut Box (UK)

Founder/s: David Nolan, Kevin Glynn
Founded year: 2016
Funding: €48.9M

London-based Butternut Box is a fresh food delivery startup for dogs. The company claims to have produced over 8 million meals for dogs across the UK. As per the company, dishes are cooked using fresh ingredients and portioned as per the breed, sex, weight, and exercise regime of dogs. Butternut Box continues to stress the importance of bringing in transparency in the pet food segment and believes that it can use quality ingredients with easy-to-read food labels.

Last year, Butternut Box secured €17.4M investment led by European VC firms Five Seasons Ventures and White Star Capital. Also, its existing investors – Literacy Capital and Passion Capital took part in the investment round. The new funding was used to bring balanced and healthy diets to more pets in the UK and Europe.

Front of the Pack (UK)

Founder/s: Chris Wilkinson, Neil Hutchinson
Founded year: 2019
Funding: €3.2M

Front of the Pack is a pet health startup that claims to work with the intention to disrupt the massive global pet health industry. In addition to health, the startup offers pet supplements that helps to improve the overall dental health of dogs and alleviate joint pain. It also claims to make the dog’s coats shiny and healthy. This startup bagged $3.5M (nearly €2.9M) funding from European investor Stride VC and NEON, a VC firm in 2019 along with Heartcore Capital and Founder Collective.

Mascoteros (Spain)

Founder/s: Demis Torres
Founded year: 2015
Funding: €2.8M

Based out of Barcelona, Mascoteros claims to be the first marketplace for pets in Spain. It offers an app to find a wide range of pet products. It lists products and accessories for dogs, cats, birds, fish, reptiles, horses and rodents. Back in May this year, this company raised €1M seed funding from Kibo Ventures and other investors in order to grow its team.

Pure Pet Food (UK)

Founder/s: Daniel Valdur Eha, Mathew Cockroft
Founded year: 2012
Funding: €2.4M

Pure Pet Food is a UK-based pet food startup that specialises in preparing and delivering air-dried dog food made with natural ingredients that are personalised to your pet. The company claims to gently air-dry 100% human-grade and natural ingredients to lock nutrients and remove moisture. Once the pet owners share the details about their dogs, the company prepares healthy and natural dog food, tailored to the dogs’ needs. With this startup, users can get dog meals on a regular, flexible plan until they cancel it at any time.

Buddy Pet Foods (Sweden)

Founder/s: Alex Baumann, Alexander R., Erik Wide Gustafsson
Founded year: 2018
Funding: €1.1M

Swedish pet food startup Buddy Pet Foods helps consumers who are looking out for the right food for their pets. The startup claims to provide human-grade food for pets. As per the company, it produces its own recipes using healthy food and snacks, including oven-baked dry-food, which helps in maintaining the nutritional value for dogs. It claims to work together with dieticians to create customised diet plans for each dog.

HiProMine (Poland)

Founder/s: Damian Józefiak, Jakub Urbański
Founded year: 2015
Funding: €380K

HiProMine is a Polish pet food startup that recycles organic waste into nutrition products for animal farming, pets and plants. One of the products offered by the company is an insect-based dog good. It claims that many insect-based meals lack antibiotics and are less healthy. It uses Black Solider Fly, which is beneficial for the environment as well.

Reglo (France)

Founder/s: Basile Laigre
Founded year: 2020
Funding: NA

Reglo is an early-state pet food startup that was launched in June 2020. It claims to offer a sustainable and ethical alternative to meat and fish, adapted to the digestive system of dogs. Its kibble recipe replaces meat with sustainably produced insect proteins. It claims that its insects provide all the essential animate acids, fats and minerals that your dog needs.

Entoma Petfood (Denmark)

Founder/s: Luxidan Nirmalananthan
Founded year: 2016
Funding: NA

Danish pet food startup Entoma Petfood claims to operate with the intention to provide the best for dogs and our planet. As per the company, they develop natural treats and complete food for your dog based on insect-based protein sources – Hermetia illucens. It claims to focus on quality and sustainability and ensure that natural products are beneficial not only for the dogs but also for the planet.

Zooplus (Germany)

Founder/s: Cornelius Patt
Founded year: 1999
Funding: NA

Zooplus is an online retailer of pet food and supplies with headquarters in Munich and ships to nearly 30 countries in Europe and the United Kingdom. Zooplus claims to offer a full range of pet supplies for you and your pets with over 8,000 top products. The company has over 20 years of expertise in the pet food and pet accessories sector. In 2008, Zooplus completed its IPO and is listed at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Stock photo from HeyDmitriy/Deposit Photos