As the Unleashed by Purina mission reaches its seventh year championing innovation in the pet care industry, London has been high on our list for bringing together incredible innovators and investors.
On an uncharacteristically sunny spring day in West London, we did just that.
With our co-organisers, JamJar Investments, we curated a guest list of 60 startups and 40 investors to foster conversation, collaboration and passion for pets.
But what we created was far more than just a meet-up. It was an exclusive window into the ecosystem from our expert speakers and a peek at the innovation on the horizon. Pair that with the electric energy in the room and you have a meeting of minds that few of us will forget.
Here’s a snapshot of what the Unleashed Pet Tech meet-up in London revealed.
The forces shaping the pet industry right now
From Garyth Stone’s keynote to panels on UK market dynamics and brand building, the day surfaced a clear set of themes shaping the industry right now.
The rise of the ‘high worrier’ pet parent
Across the keynote and panels, one theme came up repeatedly: today’s pet parent is more anxious, more informed and more involved than ever before.
Garyth Stone, a Managing Director at Houlihan Lokey, described this as the rise of the ‘high worrier’ pet parent: “Millennials and Gen Z are a more nervous generation, and that carries into how they care for their pets”.
According to their survey, 43% of under 30s (Gen Z) and 43% of 31 to 40 year olds (Millennials) fall into this category. Compare that to just 32% of 51 to 60 year olds.
![Quote graphic: “[Pet parents] are willing to trade up and trade down across their total pet care spend, but they’re really discerning around how they’re doing it.” Sophie Luck, Principal at JamJar Investments](/sites/default/files/2026-04/5_UNL_BLOG_LondonMeetupBlog_600x400.png)
Global multi-channel brands will win
During our ‘Let’s Talk Local’ conversation led by Calum Macrae, CEO of Purina Northern Europe, we learned more about the globalisation of homegrown pet brands as a strong marker for investors, and where the UK stands from a global perspective.
Meili Eubank from General Atlantic said, “The UK is roughly three to five years behind the U.S., depending on which category you look at”.
As global and multichannel pet startups are more attractive to investors, Michael Thorpe, Managing Director at Correlation Risk Partners, mentioned the opportunity to build partnerships. He said, “What incumbents have is access to customers. What they don’t have is the nimbleness”. This places savvy startups to broaden their global reach.
But as startups enter these partnerships and grow beyond their home territories, Eubank underlined, “never underestimate the power of localisation”.
The shift to proof-driven innovation
Our panellists throughout the day also highlighted the shift towards ‘premium with proof’.
Sophie Luck, Principal at JamJar Investments, said it best during the Let’s Talk Local panel:
“[Pet parents] are willing to trade up and trade down across their total pet care spend, but they’re really discerning around how they’re doing it”.
Gone are the days when anything ‘pet’ was destined for success. Now brands need to prove their value.
In conversation, Israt Sawda Garcia-Gabilan Pardo, Managing Partner of Furrbit Ventures said,
“Products that just look good or feel trendy won’t last. Functionality matters”.
Differentiation is key, and harder than ever
While the keynote and Let’s Talk Local panel focused on investor insights, the branding panel, led by Sophie Luck, emphasised differentiation.
As Mark Zaki, Lily’s Kitchen Marketing Director put it, “To be an iconic brand, you have to create an emotional connection”.
That idea was echoed by Lucky Saint’s CMO Kerttu Inkeroinen, who emphasised that brand building starts from day one, and how having confidence in your voice as a brand enables you to “break rules and honour traditions”.
And for Daniel Attia, Founder of Creature Comforts, building that distinctive brand meant letting go of assumptions. He said, “I thought I was the consumer … and I was wrong”. He shared the story of resisting committing to lilac as the brand identity and clinic style, but the science showed that pets find lilac interiors soothing.
All panellists agreed that standing out in this saturated pet market needs more than just a great product. A disruptive brand with clear storytelling equals loyal customers.
What investors are actually backing – our pitch competition
One of the traditions we honour at every meet-up is our pitch competition; we invite a handful of exciting pet startups to pitch their brands to the investors in the room.
For our London meet-up, we invited a broad spectrum of startups to pitch:
- Pezz Life – pet care and longevity platform
- Pawd Drinks – drinkable pet supplements
- Marleybones – pantry fresh food for dogs
- Meatly – cultivated meat for pet food
- Pluto Vets – disruptive veterinary group
- Lupa – AI-powered vet OS
- The Honest Dog Co – functional pet supplements & toppers
Our judges, Matthew Chandler, CFO of Purina Northern Europe, Kirsty Macdonald, Principal at JamJar Investments and Clément Helinckx, Principal at DLF Venture, were ready to discover groundbreaking innovation and positive impact.
They were impressed by the pitches with great traction and customer feedback, but one startup stood out.
Winner - Meatly
Meatly’s proposition is simple: to make real meat without animals.
“We take a single sample of cells from one egg, one time, and from that we can create an infinite amount of meat without ever involving another animal”, said Owen Ensor, Founding CEO of Meatly.
Cultivated meat is an innovative ingredient option for pet food, with a complete nutritional profile and tightly controlled production processes that support consistency, quality and sustainability.
But what truly impressed the judges was Meatly’s success; becoming the first company in the world to sell cultivated chicken for pet food in 2025, in just two and a half years, and with only GBP 5 million invested.
Matthew Chandler, CFO Purina Northern Europe said, “At Purina, we look for the impact on pets, people and the planet. That’s at the very core of everything we do. For me and the rest of the judges, Meatly really lived this so it was a very easy decision”.
Runner-up - Pezz Life
Pezz Life is a pet care and longevity platform based on diagnostics, supplements and advice. Their primary product is quick, affordable, accurate at-home diagnostics.
We’re proud to have accelerated Pezz Life in our startup accelerator programme in 2024.
Markus Zengerer, Founder and CEO said, “We see in our data that we can help a lot of pet parents with personalised supplements and actionable advice. Our mission is to become a leading brand in pet longevity”.
For the judges, the company’s low customer acquisition costs, high data collection and profitability were standout features.
After accepting his trophy, Zengerer said, “I’ve been to almost every Unleashed event in Europe - it’s always fantastic to come back”.
Stronger together
As the day ended with canapés and drinks under the skylight at The Hurlingham Club, conversations continued to swirl as connections were formed.
Margo Kravchenko, Brand and Communications Director at PawChamp said, “Purina Unleashed helped us find new, surprising partners. We didn’t even know these kinds of innovations and technologies existed”.
If there was one takeaway from the day - from the pitches to the panels - it’s that the bar is higher than ever. But there’s plenty of innovation to meet it.
“It was quite a motivator to see what other people are doing. You don’t normally have access to that information”, said Nuno Valente, Founder of Nana’s Home.
And that’s why we at Unleashed continue to host pet tech meet-ups around the world, to bolster a stronger community that can spearhead the next frontier of the industry.
Special thanks to our co-organisers, JamJar Investments, for helping us create this unforgettable event.
If you want to know where we’ll be meeting up next, subscribe to our OffLeashed newsletter.