Pet Plate, a direct-to-consumer subscription service selling fresh, human-grade dog food, announced Monday it closed on a $9 million Series A funding round.
According to Nielsen data, U.S. sales of fresh pet food in stores increased by more than 70 percent between 2015 and 2018, hitting $550 million nationwide, not including e-commerce. Pet Plate CEO Gertrude Allen attributes the success of the industry to the “humanization of dogs.”
“Modern pet parents, whether they’re old or young, they’re treating their dogs like family members. They really view them the same way they would their own children,” Allen told Built In. “In the same way that parents are feeding children — more healthy foods, natural, organic, less processed, less refined sugar — all of those same principles are now being applied to dogs.”
Pet Plate’s food was designed by veterinarians and is considered “human-grade” by the Association of American Feed Control Officials because it’s made with human-grade ingredients and is freshly cooked in a U.S. Department of Agriculture facility.
“It’s all the same type of food you and I eat, the difference is it’s formulated for a dog’s diet. What that means is that the ingredients go into the meal in a ratio that’s appropriate for a dog,” Allen said. “Then we do supplement the food with a natural vitamin and mineral supplement. That supplementation is matched to a dog’s diet.”
Pet parents can use Pet Plate’s platform to determine what recipes work best for their dog depending on their breed, size, activity level and overall health. The food is then prepared in a USDA facility in Texas and shipped in resealable, recyclable containers anywhere in the continental United States.
Subscription costs depend on how often pet parents order and how large their dog is. Allen says prices can be as low as $1.50 a day for smaller dogs, but the average is about $6 a day for average-sized dogs eating the food regularly.
Pet Plate currently offers four recipes — “Barkin Beef,” “Chompin’ Chicken,” “Lip Lickin’ Lamb” and “Tail Waggin’ Turkey” — and is planning to add another two (wild game and seafood) later this year. Allen says the funding will also be used to launch a line of human-grade organic dog treats on April 1st and double its 10-person team in its New York office by the end of this year.
The funding round was led by DFE Capital Management and General Mills’ venture capital firm 301 INC. While General Mills bought premium pet food brand Blue Buffalo in 2018, this will mark its VC firm’s first investment in a pet food company, according to Crunchbase data.
“This really tells the story as to where the market is heading when you have a company like General Mills backing a pet food company,” Allen said. “We’re really excited because it means that we’ll have the expertise and network of a large company behind us even at the very early stage.”
