[Funding alert] Just Dogs raises $7M from Sixth Sense Ventures

Just Dogs has raised  $7 million from consumer-focused venture fund Sixth Sense Ventures to create a full stack online experience for the pet parent. 

Just Dogs is an omnichannel retailer for pet products and services. According to a statement, the startup caters to 1.5 lakh customers and has a presence across 42 stores, The chain is the largest retailer for major global brands like Pedigree, Royal Canin, Purina to name a few.

Founded a decade ago by the husband-wife team of Ashish and Poorvi Anthony, this Ahmedabad-based startup has been bootstrapped for all these years. 

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“Before the past year, raising funds in the pet category was not very easy because not many people were looking at it. It was mainly during the pandemic that people started paying attention as this fell under essential commodities,” said Ashish Anthony, Founder & CEO, Just Dogs.

Just Dogs was advised by boutique investment bank Panini on the transaction. 

"Pets is a highly underpenetrated market, with an 8-15 years lien on the customer and a premium lifetime value. Being a first mover, Just Dogs has a clear edge to create a full-stack engagement brand by leveraging on its omnichannel presence, clearly a high entry barrier in an otherwise fragmented market,” said Nikhil Vora, Founder, and CEO, Sixth Sense Ventures.

Pet space is a $200 billion market globally larger than established FMCG segments like baby-care and oral-care. While the US is the largest market at $72 billion, penetrated at 65 percent, India is still a very nascent $500 million market at just 6 percent penetration and sub 10 percent commercial food presence.

“With over 30 million pets, the Indian pet industry is just coming of age, becoming the fastest-growing pet market in the world. There has been an evolution from dog owners to a rising number of pet parents who treat pets as their children, leading to informed consumers graduating towards higher quality, premium products. This is creating a large opportunity for the company to capture,” Ashish added.