We’ve been talking about the pet humanisation trend for nearly a decade.
Pets aren't just animal companions; they’re family members we want to share our lives with.
So it made perfect sense to us to team up with Dagorà LifeStyle Innovation Hub to host the Pet Innovation Deep Dive event on the 10th of September 2026.
At Nestlé HQ in Vevey, we brought together innovators, investors and Purina leadership to learn more about pet care trends and how the pet industry connects with other lifestyle industries.
As the Head of Purina Accelerator Lab, Jeanne Chatelle said, “It gave us the opportunity to bring together Purina's deep pet care expertise with Dagorà's broader innovation ecosystem, while showcasing how pet care is increasingly connected to wider lifestyle, health, technology and consumer trends”.
This dynamic event with pet lovers and pet industry innovators was one of the highlights of our year. Here is what we learned.
Where pets and lifestyle combine
“When people ask me how many I have in my family, I say five and one is the dog”, said Carlo Terreni, President at Dagorà Lifestyle Innovation Hub, as he opened the event. “We can see how pet care has an undeniable connection to lifestyle, through humanisation and companionship, to wellness and everyday choices”.
We at Unleashed witnessed firsthand how this shift to pet lifestyle products is showing up at Pet Fair Asia 2026 in Shanghai, where automation, convenience and style were key concerns for millennial and Gen Z pet parents.
So, together with Dagorà, we set out to design an event that would bring pets as a lifestyle category to the forefront and encourage more partnerships between lifestyle and pet brands.
The power of collaborations
One of the best things about our Pet Innovation Deep Dive event was the variety of successful collaborations on display. Lifestyle brands working together with pet care brands can innovate in ways we haven’t seen before.
Starting with Purina PRO PLAN’s collaboration with ATP Tour. Men’s professional tennis may not be the most obvious of collaborations for these two giants in their industries. And yet, it yielded a viral social media campaign with activations in 19 markets and generated 2.5 billion PR impressions.
Stella Demesticha, Head of Vet & PRO PLAN Business Unit at Nestlé Purina PetCare Europe, said, “Just as elite athletes rely on the right nutrition to perform at their best, pets benefit from science-based nutrition tailored to their needs”.
“By bringing together the worlds of tennis and pet care, we can inspire more pet owners to care for their pets like a PRO. Beyond brand visibility, the collaboration helps us showcase innovation in pet nutrition, translating the latest scientific advances into practical insights that help pets live healthier, longer and more active lives”.
Another great example was United Pets and Adidas’ collaboration creating pet fashion. United Pets brought their expertise of the pet care space, and Adidas brought their strong brand equity. The result was a successful social media campaign drawing content creators and international celebrities alike posting their pets in Adidas clothing.
As Chiara Spadolini, Wholesale Activation Manager at Adidas, said, “Partnerships help you position and elevate your brand”.
Local alliances, global impact
By hosting this event at Nestlé HQ in Vevey, we got a glimpse of the talented pet care innovators and investors close to home.
Despite Switzerland being a relatively small market in the global pet care industry, it’s one of the most pet-friendly nations in the world.
Every second household in Switzerland has a cat or a dog.
We even had Xavier Philipona, Senior Investment Officer at Innovaud, join us to promote the Vaud district as a primary hub for innovation and business development in Switzerland.
This is also why it’s part of the Unleashed by Purina mission to host events worldwide to strengthen the pet tech community at the local level.
Key takeaways from our Pet Innovation Deep Dive event
The day was jam-packed with insights from investors and innovators. Here are the key takeaways from our talented panel of speakers.
Design is in
When we talk about pet care as a lifestyle, we see how user experience becomes more important. Pet care products have never looked better.
From the Adidas x United Pets collaboration to SmartPetCare’s stylish wet cat food feeder, we saw plenty of examples of brands prioritising beauty as well as function for greater appeal.
As our own Jeanne Chatelle said, “It has never been cooler to be a pet owner”.
Brands that lean into that cool factor could result in stronger interest from consumers.
Investors are leaning in
During the investor panel, led by Matteo Bertussi, Speaker Relations and Innovation Manager at Dagorà Lifestyle Innovation Hub, we learned why pet care was such an attractive category for today’s investors.
“The reason is simple”, said Dominique P. Locher, Founder and CEO, Angel Investor and Board Member at CapMartins. “There’s a clear market, and I want to invest where the market is huge”.
Guglielmo Ruggeri, President at Italian Manufacturing Group, echoed those sentiments, mentioning how transversal the pet category is and how the market will evolve. He said, “The market will become more segmented with low, medium, high and luxury. But it’s important to prioritise quality to bring value to the customer”.
Gianmarco Ferrari, Founding Member and CEO at Gama Partecipazioni - Magis Holding, had a broader perspective having been in the pet industry for multiple years. He remarked on the growing opportunity for senior pet care, data solutions and pet services. He said, “There is an opportunity for pet services to bring more value to the market. Before, it was more of a risk than an opportunity, but now I’m optimistic about it”.
Success requires balancing the four pillars of a brand
Stella Demesticha, Head of Vet & PRO PLAN Business Unit at Nestlé Purina PetCare Europe, taught us one of the clearest paths for success. “At Purina, we think about these four things to be successful. The first is the product. Product needs to be best in class. The second is value. The value should be the right value for the consumer. Third is visibility. You need to be everywhere; the product doesn’t matter if no one knows about it. Finally, communication. You need a communication strategy that talks to the heart of the consumers. If you miss one of the four, there is no way to build a brand or be innovative”.
The Swiss startups changing pet tech
Finally, during the event, we invited a select group of Swiss pet tech startups to pitch their brands and show us the traction they’ve built in recent years.
Calingo, one of the fastest growing pet insurance startups in Europe, told us about their successful crowdfunding efforts, raising 1.3 million CHF in 2026. This helped them grow faster and form more strategic partnerships with global players like Tractive.
Kippy, a wearable GPS-tracking brand, presented their alternative approach to growing a pet database ecosystem. Following their acquisition by Datamars, Kippy aims to build a consolidated product that brings identity, location and health together.
Stylla presented their science-backed liquid pet care supplements as a solution to pet parents’ growing concerns over their pet’s wellness.
Powsh showed us their AI pet health app, which could provide live feedback and support to pet parents concerned about their pet’s wellbeing.
Finally, Unleashed by Purina alumni, SmartPetCare showed us their latest iKitty system, which they call the Nespresso for wet cat food.
Head of Purina Accelerator Lab, Jeanne Chatelle said, “We were delighted to have Frank pitching SmartPetCare at the event. The business has made tremendous progress since going through the accelerator, and we're excited to see the next generation of their wet cat food feeder hit the market in the coming months”.
Reaching across the aisle
If this event taught us anything, it’s the sheer impact industries and brands can make when they combine for a common goal. The pet care space has an emotional buyer that is becoming more discerning with their spend. So now is the time to innovate, not just with the products but with the approach, the messaging and the value you can bring to the pet care world.
As Jeanne Chatelle, Head of Purina Accelerator Lab, said, “The discussions showed just how interconnected these industries have become and highlighted some exciting opportunities for innovation at the intersection of pet care and lifestyle”.
We cannot wait for our next wave of events in 2027 to open up new avenues and foster new collaborations within the pet care community.
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Written by Olivia de Santos, Pet Tech Writer at Unleashed by Purina.