Amidst the COVID-19, as people stayed at home a lot, there has been a surge in pet ownership as well. Reports from Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association suggest that there are over 3 million households in the UK that got a pet during the pandemic.
Recently, Bought By Many, a pet insurance service provider, bagged $350 million (nearly £246 million) in a Series D funding round and reached a $2 billion valuation. Now, London-based Butternut Box, which is a fresh food online delivery startup for dogs has secured £40 million in capital in a latest funding round in order to grow its business and strengthen operations.
Utilisation of funds
The investment round was led by the European fund of L Catterton, the largest global consumer-focused private equity firm. Other existing investors that participated in the round include White Star Capital, Five Seasons Ventures and Passion.
As per the company press release, Butternut Box will use the funds to bolster its operational enhancements as well as its growth and diversification in existing and new channels, products and markets.
The London startup is a subscription service, similar to HelloFresh, wherein you build a personalised meal plan for your dog and the boxes are delivered to your door.
Butternut Box co-founder David Nolan said; “Butternut is driven by our founding purpose – to deliver health and happiness to dogs and their humans all over the world. We are delighted about the recent investment as it will facilitate us caring for more dogs than ever before.”
Butternut Box co-founder Kevin Glynn added; “We are excited to be partnering with L Catterton and our existing investors again. We’ve been on a great journey together and we are energised by the fact that our existing shareholders are doubling down so that we can accelerate our efforts in customer experience, manufacturing, new products and new markets.”
Jean-Philippe Barade, Partner, L Catterton Europe, and head of the firm’s London office, commented; “We have long been impressed by how Butternut Box has established itself as the trusted brand of choice in the UK among a loyal base of pet owners, and we are thrilled to strengthen our partnership further with this latest round of funding. Butternut Box continues to leverage its innovative digital platform to raise the bar in the growing pet food market, and we look forward to collaborating with the entire Butternut team as they work to build on their considerable momentum.”
Eric Martineau-Fortin, co-founder and Managing Partner at White Star Capital, added: “We have been fortunate to work with the team over a number of years and have seen their relentless focus on their purpose guide them to a leading position in the UK. We look forward to working with them on this next phase, as they expand the Butternut Box community internationally.”
“In the last 12 months, Butternut Box has built a unique pet food production facility, designed from the ground up for D2C distribution of fresh pet food,” said Ivan Farneti, Managing Partner at Five Seasons Ventures. “We are very excited for all the additional learnings and IP we are going to create in the coming years as the team steps up the growth both domestically and internationally.”
Eyes to deliver pet dietary solutions globally
David Nolan and Kevin Glynn founded Butternut Box in 2016 after seeing the benefits that fresh, home-cooked food had on Dave’s poorly rescued dog, Rudie. It operates with the mission to deliver health and happiness to dogs and their humans all over the world.
Now, it is a leading human-grade, fresh dog food company in the UK and Europe due to its highly personalised dietary offering and digital-first approach. The company intends to execute on its vision to deliver high-quality pet dietary solutions to new international markets.
The post UK’s HelloFresh for dogs, Butternut Box secures £40M funding appeared first on UKTN (UK Tech News).
