Photo Credit: Butternut Box
Butternut Box, a London-based dog food delivery company, announced it has raised €17.4 million. This funding round was led by European venture capital firms Five Seasons Ventures and White Star Capital. Existing investors Passion Capital and Literacy Capital also participated in this funding round along with debt financier Kreos Capital.
“We’re so excited to have the backing of amazing investors to take Butternut Box to the next level and grow a leading pet wellness company in Europe,” said Butternut Box co-founder David Nolan. “Even more exciting is that we will reach more pets and could help them to live healthier, happier lives. The transformation stories we hear from pet parents each day spurs us on to make Butternut Box even better.”
Ever since Butternut Box launched in 2017, the company has produced more than 8 million meals for dogs across the UK and the company’s revenues grew by 700%. The dog food dishes are cooked with fresh ingredients and are portioned based on the dog’s breed, gender, and exercise regime before it is delivered to customers.
“We’ve been working closely with the team since our investment in early 2018,” added White Star Capital co-founder and managing partner Eric Martineau-Fortin. “David and Kevin have created a product-centric brand built on the foundations of an exceptionally strong community and a very special team culture. We’ve worked closely with companies such as Freshly and Dollar Shave Club to scale and Butternut Box is growing on a similar trajectory.”
According to EU-Startups, Butternut Box was founded by best friends Nolan and Kevin Glynn. And the company has continued to stress the importance of transparency in the pet food sector and they believe strongly in quality ingredients with easy-to-read labels on the packaging.
“Last year we were actively searching for a pet food investment opportunity around two key trends: the humanization of pets and the increasing shift towards natural food, with the connected premiumization of the overall experience,” explained Five Seasons Ventures partner Ivan Farneti. “The team at Butternut Box was spot on in terms of their product positioning, their direct-to-consumer model and strong commercial traction. This is one of the strongest teams we have seen in foodtech in Europe over the last few years: we had to back them.”
With this funding round, Butternut Box is aiming to bring healthy and balanced diets to more pets across the UK and Europe. In conjunction with this funding round, former SkyBet CEO Richard Flint is joining the Butternut board.
“Although it might not seem that home-cooked dog food and online betting have much in common, I am learning that there are many parallels,” noted Flint. “Most importantly my passion is helping great teams to succeed and that’s why I am so excited to be joining the Butternut Box Board.”
