The pet industry in India is one of the fastest growing but most underpenetrated in the world. Where else on Earth has a billion-dollar opportunity gap in pet goods and services in 2026?
And yet, most new Indian pet startups are focused on food and veterinary services since they are the biggest segments of the industry to tackle, with the lowest risk and highest return. However, that also leads to an overcrowded market.
What if the key to success in this quickly evolving market is differentiation, not imitation?
Today’s article is about two brave founders who did just that. Co-founders of Absolut Pet, Vijay Sivaraju (CEO) and Jahnavi Maganti (COO), came onto Unleashed by Purina’s radar during our Pet Tech meetup in Bengaluru in October 2025.
Their pitch was simple: pet supplements that are both tasty and efficacious for cats and dogs. The result? Sold out products, VC interest and a hunger to disrupt the pet supplement market in India and beyond. This is their story.
A gap in the market
Nothing puts pet health into focus as sharply as when your puppy is sick for the umpteenth time. Vijay’s German Shepherd puppy, Dash, had been suffering from tick fever and joint issues from an early age. This led Vijay to wonder, “There were not enough solutions in the local market to solve these very straightforward problems. So we came up with the idea of pet supplements as treats and started feeding Dash our first hip and joint supplement in 2024, when we launched. Today, he’s so much better”.
So often, the most successful startups in the pet space tackle a concrete problem, which is exactly how Absolut Pet approached their product development. The business now offers six supplement chews for dogs and three supplement-infused mousses for cats.
Having ‘negotiated’ with my pets to take their tablet supplements many times before, the mousse and chew design of these products stood out to me. When I asked about these creative form factors for their pet supplements, Jahnavi told me how the concept came from their own experience.
She said, “As pet parents ourselves, it just gave us a fresh new perspective of what's lacking in the market. We all know cats and dogs don’t like tablets, and most pet supplements in India are in a tablet form. We wanted to change that”.
Officially launching in November 2024, this young company started with a limited batch created by their modest local manufacturing operation. What happened next is something most startups can only dream of.
Selling out
By 2025, the most popular chews were selling out. Requests for new products and form factors were flooding in. The brand’s popularity on socials grew, hitting over 15 thousand followers on Instagram alone.
But let’s zoom out and consider why this might be. The global pet supplements market size was valued at USD 2.95 billion in 2025, and is projected to grow from USD 3.14 billion in 2026 to USD 4.82 billion by 2034. North America is leading the pack with a 43% market share.
In India alone, the pet supplement market was valued at USD 187.86 million in 2024. By 2033, the market is expected to expand to USD 388.68 million.
Growing pet ownership and pet humanisation are the main factors driving interest in the sector.
“There's a very big gap in India, where people have pets, love pets and therefore pets are being humanised. But there aren’t enough options on the market to serve those pet lovers”, said Vijay.
Because of the market opportunity in this sector, I wondered if the Absolut Pet founders were seeking investment.
“We’ve been bootstrapped so far but we’ve had some investor interest. I think VCs are hesitant because there's not enough proof of concept yet in the [pet supplements] category”, said Vijay.
This makes sense, as India's pet care industry is relatively nascent, with pet food overall capping at less than a 10% penetration of the pet owning population.
In short, there are millions of pet owners, but very few are engaging with pet food and services regularly. Pet supplements are even earlier in their breakthrough potential in this market. This will improve as the market matures, but seeking investment in this category has proved challenging for Absolut Pet.
Despite the local investor’s hesitancy around the category, the Absolut Pet founders see future VC funding as a portal to better serve their customers.
Jahnavi told me, “We are the category creators here. So we don’t want to keep our customers waiting. We want to scale up faster and align with strategic partners who can help us navigate the next phase”.
From education to adoption
Introducing a relatively new product category to the market has meant that Absolut Pet’s marketing has focused on education first.
Jahnavi talked about their emphasis on soft selling: “A lot of our content is very educational. We never really hard sell our product. Instead, we educate the pet parents on the signs to look for if there is an issue and how our products can help”.
By attracting customers who are actively looking to solve specific health problems, Absolut Pet has been able to refine its products quickly.
“Consumers are learning something new from our content, and then, when they decide to try it, we make sure that they see visible results in 2 to 3 weeks. Because they're seeing results, this builds trust in the company as a whole”, Vijay said.
That feedback loop has helped the founders build a close-knit customer community, giving them a strong read on emerging pet health concerns and ownership trends in India.
What’s next for Absolut Pet?
Building a strong customer base in India is the primary goal of the founders, but of course, every startup’s long-term goal is to expand. With a largely breed-, age- and size-agnostic product line, the business is well positioned to explore international markets.
Is that what the future holds for the company? The founders gave an enthusiastic ‘yes’, citing their strong position and affordability in the global market as a key driver for expansion.
Vijay told me, “We're sourcing and manufacturing in India. If we start exporting these products to markets like the US, Europe or the UK, we can offer them at a very competitive price”.
Strengthening distribution through veterinary networks in India is also part of the plan. As Jahnavi explained, “Our chews are vet recommended, so that also wins our customers’ trust”. But this is just the beginning. Starting with their home city of Hyderabad, they’ve started forming veterinary partnerships.
Clinical validation is another priority.
Vijay said, “We are also getting some clinical trials done. And once trials are done, vets will be a lot more confident in recommending Absolut Pet products”.
Alongside this, the founders are excited to launch new products and form factors in 2026. Navigating that delicate balance between creating products that both pets and pet parents love.
This ethos of continuous innovation has shaped the business from the outset. Both founders remarked on the need to keep interacting and executing quickly to ensure the success of their company.
“A lot of people get stuck in the planning and ideating phase. What's worked for us is having a strategy but being quick to execute”, Jahnavi said.
At Unleashed by Purina, we’ve seen how startups that combine clear strategy with fast execution can grow into category leaders. Absolut Pet’s next phase will test that approach at scale—they are certainly one to watch!
Written by Olivia De Santos, Pet Tech Writer @ Unleashed by Purina.