Recently, high-end pet food brand Pat announced the completion of Series B financing. This round of financing was exclusively invested by L Catterton. As a well-established fund with a deep understanding of consumption, L Catterton has extensive experience in pet food investment globally, which also marks that L Catterton will continue to increase its strategic layout in China's pet food field. This financing will be used for R&D investment, supply chain construction, brand building, etc.

Focus on science Pet-raising needs, building advantageous barriers with quality

Pat was established in 2016. It is a high-end pet food company focusing on pet nutrition and health. Since its establishment, adhering to the brand purpose of equal companionship between humans and pets, Pat has been committed to developing more natural and friendly pet food. The scientific feeding concept of "raw bone and meat formula" launched by Pat is close to the original eating habits and nutritional structure of dogs and cats, which can effectively help pets grow up healthily and stay with us for a long time. With "8:1:1 raw meat and bone formula" as the core product concept, Pat has launched a series of raw bone and meat formula products, from top-notch raw bone and meat freeze-drying to raw bone and meat formula staple food cans, staple foods, snacks, etc., and is committed to providing consumers with Providing reliable and high-quality pet food made in China.

With the popularity of the concepts of refined feeding and scientific pet raising, the concept of raw meat and bone feeding is also gaining momentum and has become an emerging track that many pet owners are paying attention to. Pat focuses on raw bone and meat formulas that are closer to the original eating habits of dogs and cats, taking products as its core competitiveness and constantly innovating. Take Pat's series of raw bone and meat freeze-dried products as an example. Pat adopts the Freeze-Dried low-temperature freeze-drying process, which not only ensures that the ingredients are not contaminated by bacteria and mold during the production process, but also retains the original flavor and nutrition of the meat. It also has Good rehydration properties mean higher safety, palatability and freshness. With its ingenious quality, excellent service and comprehensive brand strength, it has gradually become a brand favored by consumers.

The self-built factory strengthens the supply chain system and focuses on channel construction to create endogenous power

In terms of supply chain, Pat has enhanced its product research and development capabilities and new product development capabilities to create its own Supply chain barriers and brand moats.

At the end of 2020, Pat further improved the brand's product research and development capabilities and quality stability by establishing its own product research and development laboratory and its own factory. Pat's own freeze-drying factory is located in Fanchang Economic Development Zone, Wuhu, Anhui Province. In terms of equipment and hardware, it has built a purification workshop, a large cold storage, fully automatic filling equipment, and a high-level laboratory (from raw materials to finished products, it can complete dozens of indicator tests) ). At present, Pat's own factory has successfully passed three major certifications and won the quality management system ISO9001:2015 certification, the food safety management system ISO22000:2018 certification, and the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system certification.

In terms of channel construction, as of the end of 2022, there are 46 cooperative dealers in the offline market. The areas served by the direct sales team include Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Hebei, etc., covering 23 countries across the country. provinces, 4 municipalities, and 4 autonomous regions (except Tibet), with more than 12,000 offline stores. Among them, at the same time, Pat gradually expanded online channels through a combination of direct sales and distribution. The emergence of online channel dividends has become an accelerator for brand growth and has also created conditions for Pat to achieve "overtaking in corners". At present, Pat has entered mainstream e-commerce platforms such as Tmall, JD.com, and Douyin, and has built a social media ecological matrix based on Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Bilibili. It continues to use digital marketing tools to expand brand awareness and Influence.

High-end pet Food has become an incremental track, bringing structural opportunities to the industry

According to iiMedia Consulting data, the scale of China’s pet economic industry will reach 493.6 billion yuan in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 25.2%, of which pet food accounts for the majority , the industry scale will reach 267 billion yuan, and driven by the demand side, supply side and capital, the domestic pet economy will usher in a spiral, and the market size is expected to reach 811.4 billion yuan in 2025.

Pet food runs through the entire life cycle of pets and is the rigid demand of pets. It is the pet industry segment with the highest degree of maturity and marketization. According to Euromonitor International statistics, between 2017 and 2021, the average annual compound growth rate of pet food in my country reached 24.80%, which is higher than the 20.33% average annual compound growth rate of the entire pet products industry.

With the improvement of awareness and consumption ability of the new generation of domestic pet users, pet food is no longer limited to simple satiety at this stage. Diversification and quality are becoming new trends in pet food consumption. Under the influence of multiple factors, domestic pet food brands have ushered in a new growth opportunity. The high-endization of pet food brands has become the most important breakthrough point for domestic brands, bringing new structural opportunities to the industry. High-end domestic brands represented by Pat are expected to break through through differentiated operating models by focusing on product strength, brand strength, and channel strength, coupled with social media reputation.

For this investment, Chen Yue, partner of L Catterton Asia Fund, said, "China's pet food market has shown strong growth momentum in the past few years and is expected to enter a period of steady growth in the future. We believe No matter how the short-term economy fluctuates, there will still be more and more consumers looking for healthier and more nutritious food for their pet companions. With its strong product research and development capabilities and high-quality products, Pat has attracted many consumers and is the most developed company. The potential emerging brand also has high consumer loyalty and stickiness. We are pleased to work with the management team to help the company further expand its business scale," said George, Pat's founder and CEO. , “More and more pet owners are enjoying the pleasure of raising pets while also enhancing the intimacy with their pet friends. Therefore, by providing pet lovers with healthy pet food that is more suitable for their pets’ natural diet structure, we can maximize L Catterton has the best investment experience in the field of pet food to help pets improve their quality of life and extend their lifespan. We look forward to harvesting L Catterton’s expertise in brand building, channel distribution and supply chain optimization with the help of L Catterton’s professional team. Benefit from more experience in knowledge.”

L Catterton already has extensive experience in pet food investment globally. Its investment projects in this field include: Butternut Box and Canidae. , Inspired Pet Nutrition, Instinct®, JustFoodForDogs, Lily's Kitchen, Old Mother Hubbard®, Petlove and Rachael Ray® Nutrish®, and last year completed an exclusive investment in China's high-end pet food brand Bernardine.