There are a host of benefits for plant-based diets including lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, cholesterol, cancer, arthritis, and cognitive impairment in addition to reduced inflammation and carbon footprint. Can the same be true for dogs? OMNI is a plant-based dry dog food brand that’s showing the same benefits for man’s best friend. Formulated by a vet, the company offers three types of protein-rich kibble formulated for the needs of growing puppies, adults, and older dogs. Owners have noticed dramatic improvements in their dogs in terms of increased energy, shinier coats, healthier weight, and fewer vet visits. Omni distributes direct-to-consumer through its website with a 2KG bag starting at £10.39.
London TechWatch caught up with OMNI Cofounders Guy Sandelowsky and Shiv Sivakumar to learn more about the inspiration behind the business, the company’s future plans, recent round of funding, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
This was OMNI’s first funding round and we were lucky to get the backing of key institutional food-tech investors such as ProVeg International, Trellis Road, Purple Orange Ventures, Shiocap, and Kale United. Other investors included angel investor Vera Baker as part of the Atomico Angel Programme, Brendan Robinson, the Founder of Village Vet, the Founder of a leading cultivated meat business, and the food-tech media platform FoodHack.
Tell us about your product or service.
Our team of veterinarians and veterinary nutritionists formulate healthy food for dogs from sustainable plant-based ingredients. We also offer nutrition and healthcare advice via video conferencing for dog parents as part of our subscription package.
Our best-selling products include our life-stage dry dog food diets, which are FEDIAF compliant and nutritionally complete and have been formulated by world-leading veterinary nutritionists to support puppy, adult, and senior dogs.
Our high protein recipes (30%) are made from premium ingredients like sweet potatoes, brown rice, lentils, pumpkin, and blueberries and in taste-tests dogs often prefer OMNI to the meat-based alternative. We make a point to avoid troublesome ingredients that are commonly found in pet food like processed meat, fillers, and excess animal fats which have been linked to cancer and obesity.
What inspired the start of Omni?
We’re in the middle of a health pandemic for UK dogs with almost 1 in 2 suffering from obesity-related health problems like joint pain and exercise intolerance and up to a third sadly losing their lives to cancer. We know processed meat causes both these problems in humans yet we continue to find it as the main ingredient in most dog food. Our founders started OMNI to make food for dogs that replaced these problematic ingredients with wholesome plant-based alternatives – the goal is to see fewer of these problems and give dogs the best chance of a happy long life.
Although health is our primary focus, we’re also proud to be offering a more environmentally sustainable and future-proof food solution for dogs. Not many people realise that the world’s pets eat 20% of the planet’s meat and that having a medium-size dog is the equivalent to owning a land cruiser SUV in terms of carbon footprint. Switching dogs to a plant-based diet immediately transforms them from one of the most carbon-emitting factors in the household to the least.
How is it different?
Our main point of differentiation is that we are the first veterinary-founded, plant-based dog food brand in the UK. Another important point of differentiation that we’re really proud of is the excellent palatability of our food. When we did a taste-test trial with over 250 UK dog parents feeding a variety of meat-based dog food, 91% told us that their dogs ‘Love OMNI’ with many remarking they preferred it to the meat option. This is crucial for us because as much as we want dogs to eat healthier and more sustainable food, we also want them to enjoy mealtimes as much if not more than if it were meat on the menu – this is what we’ve achieved with OMNI.
What market you are targeting and how big is it?
According to Mintel research, 34% of UK dog parents are looking to switch to feeding their dogs a plant-based diet. The plant-based pet food market is estimated to be worth $15 Billion by 2028. Our customers comprise anyone who wants to cut down on their meat intake for health or environmental reasons and want to do the same for their dogs. This includes vegans, vegetarians, and flexitarians, some of whom use our products as a sole ration for their dogs and others who like to mix things up and feed OMNI for meat-free lunches or as a mixer. We support all of these approaches, as every little helps to bring some of the health and environmental benefits of plant-power to meal times.
What’s your business model?
We have a Direct-to-Consumer model which allows us to control our narrative, engage directly with our customers and deliver outstanding customer service. As a brand that’s leading the growth of a whole new category this model also allows us to quickly learn from limited capital outlays about what’s resonating with our audiences and adapt quickly. We offer one-time purchases and subscriptions allowing customers the flexibility to try our product and sign up for repeat orders on a frequency that suits their needs. We believe there is so much potential in this model given that dog food is a big, bulky item that is required on a regular basis and our core millennial consumers see great value in not having to rush to the pet shop every time they’ve run out of dog food.
What are your post-COVID office plans?
As a business that started during the COVID-19 pandemic, remote working has been the norm for us. We’ve seen our employees thrive in this model of work due to the flexibility it provides and the ability to have a more balanced work-life pattern. We’re optimistic about this model of work and don’t have any immediate plans to open up a physical office yet. Instead, we’ve decided to invest in valuable team-building events that allow the team to connect in a meaningful way. Our founders had previously led careers in beautiful, lavish offices and often found that this didn’t always create the best culture. They felt that it was more important to create great culture by spending time to create meaningful connections.
What was the funding process like?
We knew fundraising wasn’t going to be easy, but we didn’t fully anticipate the rollercoaster we were about to embark on. Before we joined our Incubator we sent countless cold emails and LinkedIn messages hoping to snap up some early investment but this strategy didn’t work as well as we had hoped. We found the most efficient way to raise capital was to be introduced to relevant connections by building out a network. Joining an incubator like ProVeg or Brinc can be really helpful in facilitating this. Much like the rest of running a start-up learning from your mistakes and failing fast also applies to the fundraising process. We always made it a point to ask investors that rejected us for feedback so we could keep optimising our process which meant we were ready when we were talking to bigger ticket investors at the later stages of the process.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
We learned from our journey that so much of fundraising is to do with having the right network and being connected to the right people. As two first-time founders new to the food-tech space we didn’t have a strong network to our advantage. As a result, we spent a lot of time cold-emailing, cold calling, LinkedIn messaging, etc. and faced a lot of rejection at that stage. Luckily we were chosen to be a part of ProVeg and Brinc which gave us a foot in the door to speak to the right people.
Even so, at the early stages, we found it hard to convey how big this market could be as investors kept seeing this as a niche sector. However, the market is rapidly changing and even in just a few months, the sentiment towards investing in plant-based dog food had shifted a lot. When institutional investors like Trellis Road started to back us it created a lot of positive momentum that helped drive further investment from others. The conversation also started to shift as people started to make comparisons to the disruption witnessed in sectors such as milk and meat where billion-dollar plant-based unicorns were being created.
at the early stages, we found it hard to convey how big this market could be as investors kept seeing this as a niche sector. However, the market is rapidly changing and even in just a few months, the sentiment towards investing in plant-based dog food had shifted a lot. When institutional investors like Trellis Road started to back us it created a lot of positive momentum that helped drive further investment from others. The conversation also started to shift as people started to make comparisons to the disruption witnessed in sectors such as milk and meat where billion-dollar plant-based unicorns were being created.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
The most common feedback that we received from our investors was they really liked the team and our dynamic chemistry. It really helped that Guy has expert knowledge in dog health and wellbeing as an experienced vet surgeon and Shiv’s background in investment banking helped in crafting a scalable business model backed by a strong understanding of market trends. Early data also showed that consumers really loved our product with glowing 5 star Trustpilot reviews and a high repeat purchase rate which are integral foundations to rapidly scaling a D2C business.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We’re excited to be expanding our product lines to include our plant-based functional treats which will support dogs suffering from many different health conditions such as joint pain, anxiety and digestive issues.
We strongly believe that incorporating more plant-based food into a dogs diet and reducing reliance on processed meats will deliver a lot of health benefits to dogs and we’re currently working on some exciting plans to prove these results.
We’d also love to see OMNI stocked in some of the leading retailers. While we will always remain committed to our D2C model we believe having multiple points of access will allow more people to discover us and see the health benefits and joy in their dogs for themselves.
What advice can you offer companies in London that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Fundraising is a journey and the process is hardly ever smooth. You can reduce the volatility along the way by preparing your materials well in advance and building up relevant relationships early on – incubators/accelerators can be really great for this. Focusing on building a really great product that people genuinely love and proving that with relevant metrics helps a lot. It doesn’t need to be the final polished version, just needs to be good enough for investors to see the value of the product to people.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We’re lucky to have found an incredibly supportive group of investors. We’ve seen great early indications of the scalability of our offering and we’re now focused on growing our online channels while delivering a high level of customer service through our expert team of vets. We’d love to see every home in the UK incorporate some delicious OMNI into their dogs’ diet.
What is your favourite restaurant in London?
We love south Asian cuisine and often eat at Dishoom which has several branches throughout London. For every meal they sell they donate one to a starving child in Asia, we love that ethical business approach and their food is delicious too.