(PRESS RELEASE) SAN FRANCISCO — Alpine Investors, a people-driven private equity firm committed to building enduring businesses, together with consumer brands entrepreneur Wendy Wen, announces the launch of Antelope, an omni-channel pet consumer platform focused on delivering high-quality, natural pet products via a buy-and-build strategy.
Wendy Wen, an Alpine CEO-in-residence, brought her vision and thesis in creating an all-natural pet conglomerate and will lead Antelope as its founder and CEO. Wendy was previously the co-founder and COO of SENREVE, a digitally-native, omni-channel luxury handbag brand where she raised more than $23 million in funding and built the business to a globally recognized brand in less than five years.
Alpine plans to invest $100-$150 million of equity capital to fund the organic and inorganic growth of Antelope — with its first platform acquisition of an all-natural pet treats company. Antelope plans to grow these brands with strong marketing, omni-channel distribution, scalable operational infrastructure, and revenue and cost synergies.
Last year, the US pet industry exceeded $100 billion in sales for the first time. Consumer spend on pet food and treats increased by 10% to $42 billion, fostered by the bump in pet adoptions during COVID, along with a trend toward “humanization.” Consumers are becoming more conscious of the sustainability and health impact of the products they purchase and, in turn, are motivated to buy high-quality options for their pets.
“I’m the passionate owner of three pups, Poke, Mochi, and Hoku, and I’m always looking for ways to elongate and elevate their health and quality of life. Our vision for Antelope is to be that one-stop shop for pet owners searching for natural products with healthy, limited ingredients,” said Wendy. “I’m ecstatic to partner with Alpine given their founder-friendly M&A playbook and their PeopleFirst operating philosophy, where they help companies recruit and build world-class teams. I am excited to build a platform that can be the perfect future home for other like-minded founders. Together, we share a belief that success starts with great people and an unwavering commitment to our founders and our pets.”
“We are thrilled to expand our investing opportunities to founders who are transforming the pet consumable space,” Alpine Founding Partner Graham Weaver said. “We have known Wendy for many years. Her ambition, joyous personality, and passion for partnering with innovators perfectly position her to lead Antelope. Our team is delighted to support Wendy’s vision of creating an ecosystem of high-quality, natural products for pet lovers.”
The name Antelope stems from the meaning of both “ante,” which means setting a higher goal or standard and “lope,” which means to run or move with a long bounding stride. Together, the platform will be setting higher goals and standards for pet products worldwide.
Antelope is actively seeking partnerships with founders in the pet consumables space. Business owners interested in learning more about Antelope should contact Tyler Frances at tyler@alpineinvestors.com.