(PRESS RELEASE) LOS ANGELES — Yummers, the newly launched omni-channel pet lifestyle brand, announced that it closed a $6.3 million seed round led by L Catterton, the largest global consumer-focused private equity firm, along with Caravan, FS Investors, C&S Family Capital, Platinum Mile Ventures, and Louis Kreisburg. The new capital will support Yummers’ omni-channel brand strategy, including its national partnership with Petco.
Pet and consumer products industry leader Rebecca Frechette Rudisch joined forces with Antoni Porowski and Jonathan Van Ness, devoted pet parents and the stars of Netflix’s Emmy award-winning series Queer Eye, to create Yummers, which had its official launch last month. Yummers’ first line of premium products includes 18 varieties of high-quality food mix-ins for both dogs and cats, that add more flavor, variety, and nutrients to pets’ bowls, for a complete and healthy meal.
“While pets have long been considered a member of the family, they are becoming increasingly humanized across the board,” said Whitney Casey, venture partner at L Catterton. “Pet parents are focused on investing in premium products and experiences to provide their beloved animals with the highest quality care. Through its innovative products, which boast easy-to-use mix-ins, Yummers widens the aperture of personalization available to create holistic feeding solutions targeting specific nutritional needs. The Yummers team is led by unbeatable talent, and we look forward to leveraging our extensive experience investing in the pet food sector to support Yummers’ continued expansion and success.”
“I’ve believed for a long time that the pet space really deserves a brand that is all about bringing the emotion of pet parenthood to the forefront, giving pet parents permission to create the extraordinary lives their furry friends deserve,” said Yummers Co-Founder Rebecca Frechette Rudisch. “This investment is a meaningful step and inflection point in the growth of Yummers as an omnichannel brand. It will help us scale our critical retail distribution and allow us to continue to push against the status quo in our ambition to become a mainstay in pet parenting culture. Furthermore, I am thrilled to extend my already more than decade-long relationship with L Catterton in such a meaningful way. Having worked with the firm on previous endeavors, I couldn’t think of a better partner to embark with on the Yummers journey.”
“At Caravan, we helped identify a unique opportunity in the fast-growing pet category to create a compelling brand that aligned with pet parents’ elevated standards around feeding, nurturing and bonding with their pets,” said Pauline Moller, Caravan Co-founder and CEO. “We are thrilled to be a co-founding partner in Yummers and to have worked closely with Antoni, Jonathan and Rebecca to build and bring this brand to market. We are incredibly excited about its continued growth.”
As part of their investment, L Catterton and C&S Family Capital will join the Yummers Board which also includes Rudisch and Caravan.
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About Yummers
Yummers launched in 2022 with the mission to make pet mealtime extra-not-ordinary with high-quality food mix-ins for a complete and healthy meal for dogs and cats. The brand is co-founded by Antoni Porowski and Jonathan Van Ness (devoted pet parents and the stars of the Netflix Emmy award-winning series Queer Eye), along with Rebecca Frechette Rudisch, pet and consumer products industry expert, and Caravan, a co-creator of companies authentically powered by the world’s most iconic artists and athletes. With a guiding principle of “your pet deserves a life this good,” Yummers caters to the most indulgent pet parents’ desire for experiences that strengthen and express their bond with their pet. Yummers is available in tasty “Gourmet Mix-Ins” and healthy “Functional Mix-Ins” for purchase at YummersPets.com, Petco.com and more than 1,000 Petco locations nationwide. For more information, please visit YummersPets.com.
About L Catterton
With approximately $33 billion of equity capital across its fund strategies and 17 offices around the world, L Catterton is the largest global consumer-focused private equity firm. Leveraging deep category insight, operational excellence, and a broad strategic network of relationships, L Catterton’s team of nearly 200 investment and operating professionals support management teams around the world in building strong, category-leading brands. Since 1989, the firm has made around 250 investments in consumer businesses. For more information, please visit LCatterton.com.
About Caravan
Caravan co-founds companies authentically powered by the world’s most iconic artists and athletes in partnership with leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). With dozens of public and private exits collectively across its leadership team, Caravan has a proven track record of operational excellence and excels at leveraging proprietary data and reach to identify unique opportunities and build authentic brands with an immediate audience. Our extensive experience across e-commerce, consumer internet, Web3, gaming and lifestyle allow us to serve as trusted partners to the artists we co-create with. For more information, please visit hellocaravan.com.
