BarkBox is reportedly going public in a $1.6 billion deal with a SPAC. These 9DTCpet brands coul
- Blank-check company Northern Start Acquisitions Corp. reportedly agreed to acquire BarkBox, taking the pet subscription box public in a deal worth $1.6 billion, according to a Wednesday report from the Wall Street Journal.
- The deal comes as demand for pet foods and supplies has been booming thanks to more pet adoptions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Data from SimilarWeb, which tracks global digital traffic for websites and apps, points to 10 direct-to-consumer pet care brands that have grown the fastest so far in 2020.
- These upstarts, from The Farmer's Dog to Spot and Tango, are positioned to compete with established labels like Nestle's Purina and Mars's Royal Canin.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Promising early results from multiple COVID-19 vaccines have consumers fantasizing about going back to eating out, browsing at physical stores, and going to parties with friends.
Not everything will go back to the way it was. One change that's likely to be more permanent are the pets that consumers have welcomed into their households during the pandemic. Those dogs and cats have to eat, and an army of direct-to-consumer brands are already capitalizing on new pet owners' needs.
Dealmakers looking for opportunities among consumer brands seem to agree. BarkBox, which sells treats, toys and other pet supplies through subscription boxes, has reportedly struck a deal to be acquired by a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, Northern Star Acquisitions Corp. for $1.6 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. BarkBox will become a public company under the deal, the Journal reported, citing anonymous sources.
A recent report by SimilarWeb, which tracks global digital traffic for websites and apps, points to BarkBox and other emerging pet care brands that are gaining steam by selling directly to consumers.
"One key benefit they bring to consumers is these bespoke solutions," said Caroline Kim, an industry consultant who follows e-commerce for SimilarWeb. Many direct-to-consumer pet food brands offer different wet and dry food formulations to cater to specific kinds of dogs or cats. Many also appeal to millennial pet owners, who "like to browse all of the different options that are provided to them" and "are also typically more health-conscious."
"They seek out sustainable, transparent, natural, organic pet food, which is also at a premium cost," she said. Finding pet food with those attributes can be harder if shoppers limit themselves to traditional outlets, she added. The direct-to-consumer brands "are offering a lot of different benefits that they wouldn't get if they were shopping on Amazon or Chewy, for example."
Many of these up-and-coming brands are jostling for sales with the biggest consumer names in the world, such as Nestle and Mars. In the US, consumers are expected to spend $99 billion on their pets for all of 2020, with food and treats making up the largest share, according to the American Pet Products Association.
For the most recent report, SimilarWeb tracked average monthly visits on desktop and mobile devices to each brand's website during the third quarter of 2020. The analytics startup also looked at year-over-year web traffic growth, comparing the period from January to October 2020 with the same period in 2019.
Here are the 10 direct-to-consumer pet food brands that have grown the fastest so far in 2020:
10. PetPlate
Average monthly visits to site: 32,091
Year-over-year web traffic growth: 14.47%
Founder(s): Renaldo Webb
PetPlate's website greets users with a questionnaire about their dog's breed, weight, age, and other factors that determine what your pet's daily calorie consumption should be and which variety of the startup's food is best.
Founder Renaldo Webb first pitched the idea on an episode of "Shark Tank," though he didn't get any money from the celebrity hosts. Since then, he's won investments from private equity as well as the venture arm of Blue Buffalo owner General Mills.
9. BarkBox
Average monthly visits to site: 1,455,000
Year-over-year web traffic growth: 39.05%
Founder(s): Matt Meeker, Carly Strife, Henrik Werdelin
Subscription boxes have gained traction with humans, so BarkBox replicates the experience for dogs.
The company sends boxes of treats and toys to subscribers monthly, each with a theme. Past selections have included Scooby-Doo themed items and toys modeled after characters in the Home Alone series from the 1990s.
The company's approach appears to be attracting interest from investors looking to get into pet-related categories: Blank-check company Northern Star Acquisitions Corp. agreed to take BarkBox public in a deal worth $1.6 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing anonymous sources.
8. Ollie
Average monthly visits to site: 237,893
Year-over-year web traffic growth: 73%
Founder(s): Alex Douzet, Gabby Slome, Randy Jimenez
Ollie delivers dog food to consumers after they've filled out a profile including the age, weight and other characteristics of their pet. The brand's food has to stay in the refrigerator or the freezer before serving, a sign of its focus on fresh ingredients, it says.
7. Just Food for Dogs
Average monthly visits to site: 82,947
Year-over-year web traffic growth: 99%
Founder(s): Shawn Buckley
Just Food For Dogs has a lineup including foods formulated for animals with specific medical conditions as well as options that are gluten-free.
6. Tails.com
Average monthly visits to site: 573,154
Year-over-year web traffic growth: 197.29%
Founder(s): James Davidson
UK-based Tails.com worked with veterinarians and nutritionists to develop an algorithm that recommends specific foods to pet owners. The company attracted a majority investment from Nestle's Purina in 2018, though Tails.com still operates as a stand-alone business.
5. Spot & Tango
Average monthly visits to site: 13,038
Year-over-year web traffic growth: 202.78%
Founder(s): Russell Breuer
Spot & Tango's products include UnKibble, a dry dog food that the company makes using whole foods instead of powdered meat or other processed ingredients.
4. The Farmer's Dog
Average monthly visits to site: 867,579
Year-over-year web traffic growth: 318%
Founder(s): Brett Podolsky, Jonathan Regev
The company makes fresh food for dogs, co-founder Brett Podolsky discovered a fresh food diet while trying to find food that would alleviate his own dog's stomach problems.
3. Smalls
Average monthly visits to site: 40,926
Year-over-year web traffic growth: More than 5,000%
Founder(s): Matt Michaelson, Calvin Bohn
While many direct-to-consumer pet food companies started out focusing on dogs, Smalls was one of the first companies to create customized diets for cats. Its diets address feline health issues, such as dehydration and urinary problems.
2. Jinx
Average monthly visits to site: 7,280
Year-over-year web traffic growth: More than 5,000%
Founder(s): Terri Rockovich, Sameer Mehta, Michael Kim
Jinx started selling its treats and organic protein-filled kibble in early 2020. Its founders all hail from direct-to-consumer mattress brand Casper, and investors include big names like Will Smith and rapper Nas.
1. Cat Person
Average monthly visits to site: 50,444
Year-over-year web traffic growth: Up from zero visits in 2019
Founder(s): Jimmy Wu, Lambert Wang
Besides high-protein food and treats for cats, this startup makes cat accessories including catnip toys, beds, and a shallow feeding bowl that it says limits contact with a cat's whiskers, thereby reducing whisker fatigue and helping your cat relax.
The company got its start at the accelerator arm of Harry's, the shaving razor brand that has looked to other areas of the CPG universe since its deal to be acquired by Edgewell fell through earlier this year.
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