Tuggs, the UK’s only fresh, insect-based dog food continues to go from strength to strength after securing £1.1 million funding from a range of institutional investors and angels.
The innovative startup secured the funding in May 2024 and has since been using the investment to further advance business development, seeing revenues treble in the last nine months.
The company was founded in 2021 while founder Harry Bremner was conducting his masters in Tech and Entrepreneurship at University College London Business School.
Launching in late 2022, the startup has now sold over 350,000 meals to dogs across the UK and has recently moved into new offices in London.
The pre-seed of £1.1 million secured earlier this year has contributed to key business developments over the last five months including team hiring, product development and marketing investment.
The team’s headcount has increased by 100% in the last year as it expands into key divisions such as customer services as well as building out existing teams in product engineering and business development.
A key focus for the fresh pet food brand has been moving production wholly to the UK, as they look to further align their sustainable and organic values across the business.
Tuggs currently operates solely on a D2C subscription model, and Bremner attributes their success to their sustainable approach.
Harry Bremner, founder at Tuggs says: “Our ethos is about reducing reliance on livestock without compromising on the nutritional composition of the food. The main reason that consumers are choosing Tuggs is due to the quality of our products. However, we believe the onus is on us as a brand to build the product as sustainably as we can, which is why we’re pioneering the use of alternative proteins such as insects.”
Grounded in their unique offering of developing fresh dog food with insects, the team are continuing to pioneer the use of sustainable proteins, working on a range of recipe developments for treats this year including an industry-first recipe which combines a mixture of meats with insects.
Bremner continues: “We have now proven that there is a very strong product-market fit for our offering, and we’re beginning the next stage of scaling.
“We recently achieved one of the biggest milestones in our journey which was moving our entire production and supply chain to the UK. This has given us much greater control over our product development as well as providing significantly more scope for growth. We’re excited as we look ahead to 2025 where we’ll have the infrastructure in place to begin scaling much quicker whilst adding to our product offering.”
The startup is working with an established partner as their fresh food manufacturer in the UK and proudly uses Red Tractor certified standards, which boast a high accreditation of animal welfare.
Bremner’s first investor at Tuggs, Simon Hulme, Professor at UCL’s School of Management says: “I had the pleasure of knowing Harry as he was developing the concept of Tuggs whilst doing his Master’s degree at UCL. I found his approach extremely professional and he demonstrated great analytical skills, as well as the ability to make things happen. I was delighted to become one of the first shareholders and provide mentorship during the early stages of the business.”
The pet food industry’s carbon footprint has come under the microscope in recent years as pet ownership boomed throughout the pandemic. Research now shows that a 10kg dog eating wet food has roughly the same carbon footprint as a human, as well as highlighting that pet food accounts for up to 30% of the carbon emissions related to food production. Farmed insects can help reduce this environmental burden as they use up to 95% less land, water and carbon emissions to produce the same volume of protein as beef. Tuggs mixes insects with other meats, fish and vegetables to create a product that they say offers consumers a healthy dog food that is more gentle on the planet.
Featured Photo by James Barker on Unsplash.