[Funding Alert] D2C Natural Pet Care Startup Papa Pawsome Bags $250k in Seed Funding

Papa Pawsome, India’s natural pet care brand, 100X.VC-backed startup announced that it has raised Rs 2 crore ($250k) in its latest seed round. The funding round saw participation by DBR Ventures, ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, StrongHer Ventures (Global women entrepreneurship fund), 93 East Capital (New York Based fund), OpenbookVC; some of the Marquee investors are Deep Bajaj (Founder Peebuddy; Sirona Hygiene), KRS Jamwal, Mandar Joshi (Angel Investor), Naveen Gupta and others. The company plans to utilize the fresh funds to establish a strong market presence across India and expand its innovative product line and invest in R&D. 

In recent years, India has seen massive action in the pet care industry leading to an increase in the number of pet parents spending on taking extra care of their pets. Pet Grooming, specifically, is gaining the attention of many pet parents as they are actively looking for economical solutions for their pets which can be easily implemented in their daily routines. This, in addition to the low attention to pet hygiene, led to the existence of Papa Pawsome, a direct-to-customer natural pet care company.

Founded in 2019, by  Nishita Agarwal and Nikita Agarwal, Papa Pawsome is home to safe pet Care products inclusive of their flagship shampoos, oils, creams, silicone-free serums, and spa kits for dogs and cats. Their products are chemical-free, domestically produced, and even economically priced, posing tough competition to the current products in the market. 

Nishita Agarwal, Co-Founder of Papa Pawsome, stated, “We at Papa Pawsome believe that with pets becoming an important part of our lives, there has been a need gap in the pet care industry. To address the gap and make the pet parents aware about what they put in and on their pets, we have introduced natural products after eight months of extensive research where we use plant derivatives to replace all the harmful chemicals.”

Ninad Karpe, Partner at 100X.VC said, “Pet care industry has witnessed the emergence of several companies offering various products and services for pets. Pet parents are constantly looking for the best products in the market for their pets. Like any other segment, the pet car industry is marred by companies offering products with high chemical content. This is where Papa Pawsome stands out with its products made from natural ingredients. We are confident that the company will grow further in the near future.”

Aarti Gupta, Lead Investor, DBR Ventures said, “Happy to be an investor in Papa Pawsome. Pet care is one of the fastest-growing categories in the FMCG space today. As a pet parent myself, I feel there is a gap for local, sustainable and ethical pet care brands in India, and papa pawsome is solving this need.” 

At present, Papa Pawsome offers breed-specific and concern-specific kits, available from their own website, e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, and pet e-commerce portals. To further provide ease to their customers, they are also offering them subscription-based services. In the future, they also plan to expand with more products in the other category and fulfill the unmet needs of Pet Parents. Focused on pan-India growth at the moment, the Mumbai-based startup is also eyeing to expand its footprint globally in the coming years.