Petcare D2C Startup Wiggles Raises $5.5 Mn To Create More ‘Category-Creating’ Products

Pune-based D2C petcare startup Wiggles has raised $5.5 Mn in a Pre Series A funding round led by Anthill Ventures. The startup will invest the freshly raised funds in research and development to launch new ‘category-creating’ products.

Panthera Peak Ventures and several new and existing investors such as Varun Alagh, Founder, Mamaearth, Nikhil Bhandarkar, UbiquityCapital, Nachikhet Deshpande, COO, L&T Infotech, Siddharth Sikchi, Promoter, Clean Science and Technology Ltd, Nitin Chandel, Ex-Microsoft & Visa, Rahul Rathi, Promoter of Sudarshan Chemicals Ltd., Abhay Amrite, Partner, IIFL Wealth, T Krishnakumar, Ex-Chairman Coca Cola India, Amit Waikar, MD ASEAN, Doehler F&B, Kunal Sikchi, Matrix Life Science amongst several other HNIs also participated in the round. 

Founded in 2018 by Anushka Iyer, Rajh Iyer and Venkat Mahadevan, Wiggles has served more than 32,000 pet parents across the country. It has more than 42 products, including food, treats, supplements, and medicines. It also offers pet care services, including dog boarding, veterinarian on call, grooming, training, behavioural and diet consultations.

Wiggles has launched many category-creating products like their Instant Pet Sanitizer and CannaPaw, a hemp-based pain relief oil. The startup had earlier raised $1 Mn in funding from angel investors.

According to research published by Bonafide Research, the Indian pet care market is expected to reach INR 5,457 Cr by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 19% or more. Wiggles competes in this market alongside Heads Up For Tails, Supertails, Dogspot.in, Waggle.in, Doggie Dabbas, and others.

Delhi-based pet care brand and products retailer Heads Up For Tails (HUFT) has raised $37 Mn in a Series A round of funding led by Verlinvest and Sequoia Capital India in August this year. Before that in July, Bengaluru-based pet care startup, Supertails raised $2.6 Mn in a Pre Series A round of funding led by Saama Capital and DSG Consumer Partners. 

Some other prominent pets-focused startups are DogSpot, Waggle.in, Collar Folk, Gurugram-based Doggie Dabbas and Dogsee Chew.