Picture this. 

You’ve just adopted a dog. This is your first pet since you became an adult, so they’re solely your responsibility. And, of course, you want to do the best you can for them. That could mean caring for them slightly differently than your parents cared for their animals.
So you go to the local store to buy pet products and are woefully disappointed by the limited and basic options available, so much so that you think you can do things better. 

This hypothetical may be difficult for us to imagine in Europe, the US or even East Asia. But in India, this was the reality not too long ago. In fact, this was the reality for Rashi Narang, founder of Heads Up For Tails (HUFT), in 2008.

Today, we share with you HUFT’s extraordinary story—from concept to multi-million dollar brand in one of the newest pet care markets in the world. I sat with Narang to learn more about the ups and downs of building India’s most trusted pet care brand. 

Humble beginnings

Narang was frustrated. After adopting her first Labrador Retriever puppy, Sara, she wanted to find the best possible products for her. However, she came home empty-handed. The products available just didn't hit the mark. The quality, usability and design were uninspiring. She knew Sara, and pet owners like her, deserved more. So, like all great entrepreneurs, she saw a need for quality pet products and began designing her own. 

The first product? A simple dog bed. 

“I wanted a bed that looked good in my home, yet it was functional, easy to clean and comfortable for my dog during the winter,” Narang told me. This was a departure from the more functional items made for dogs at that time. 

With her first suite of products, created with her own money, Narang went out to stores, thinking the store owners would be thrilled with the level of design and care they were made with. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. 

“I approached the stores, the same stores that I found nothing in, and I thought they'd be quite excited. But no, none of them could connect to it. 200 stores rejected us,” she said.

Now, you may be thinking that the intuitive move here would be to sell online. But this is where India’s nascent pet market becomes a challenge. There was no SEO or pet market infrastructure online back in 2008. 

“There was no one to learn from. There was no market research. There were no playbooks. And people didn't even realise that they needed any of it. It was so nascent”.

This is why the first HUFT products needed to be on the ground, available for the public to see, to try and buy. 

Eventually, Narang rented a small kiosk space in the newly opened Select City Mall in New Delhi. That same kiosk is still there today, 17 years after it first opened.

Innovating in real time

With no playbook or mainstream example to follow, Narang and her team had quite the task on their hands. 

To start, they needed to educate their customers about pet care and the products they may need. 

Everyone in marketing knows that it’s far easier to sell a pen to someone who needs a pen. But new pet parents are not quite sure what they need yet. This was the beauty of having a kiosk and being able to speak with customers first-hand.

Narang told me, “We spent a lot of our early years just building a foundation, which has been so much about helping people become aware of how to be responsible pet parents”. 

This increased a culture of relationship building and a high-touch approach that continues to this day.

She continues, “I had so many hundreds of conversations on the ground, I used to spend all day there. And people just were talking to me about their lives with their pets and the good parts, the not-so-easy parts, the messy parts”.

All of this qualitative data meant that Narang could adopt design thinking when creating new products. She listened daily to the common issues pet parents had and aimed to solve it through product or experience. 

This led to HUFT pioneering many India-first products. I asked for some examples, and Narang told me, “So many! We pioneered occasionwear for Indian festivities, sulphate-free shampoos, orthopaedic beds, preservative-free treats, and super high-quality human-grade pet food”.

Of course, these new products needed a heavy educational component every step of the way. The brand carries this through with highly trained customer service reps and online content. 

In 2016, after eight years of trial and error, and multiple product lines, Narang was ready to take the mall kiosk to the next level.

The growth phase

To many, eight years may seem like a long time to wait to expand. Especially in today’s startup raising culture when the theme is to go fast and far. Narang shared with me why she decided to wait to raise a seed round. 

“I think that raising funds is a huge commitment, and you really have to be at a point in your life when you're truly ready. We've grown slowly but thoughtfully. And I think that's how we want to do it going forward, too”.

Raising seed capital spanned across three years from 2016 to 2019, totalling $13 million.
The first wave of expansion took a curious turn, as HUFT doubled down on in-person retail outlets. 

“We decided to go offline at a time when online was really the buzzword, because we were still at a point where there was no awareness and we needed to enable a lot of discoverability. That strategy so far has really helped us,” Narang told me.

In 2021, HUFT secured their Series A round of INR 2.8 billion (~$33 million), which catapulted them to new heights.

The brand grew quickly, opening stores in new cities and learning the intricacies it takes to build in a country as diverse and populous as India.

Narang reflected, “India is so diverse in its habits and culture and spaces. So every city is almost like a mini market”.

That meant translating and tailoring product offerings across the country and eventually reaching the 90 stores in 18 cities that stand today.

The pet brand for pet people

Creating a trusted brand of top-tier pet products and services, in a brand new market, is no small feat. Narang and her team paid particular attention to developing their product lines to accommodate the new wave of Indian pet parents. They also dabbled in new concepts and services for pets, which started with pet spas providing grooming services for dogs. There are now 68 pet spa locations across the country. 

Despite their evident success, in some ways the HUFT ethos of high-quality products and services, for the betterment of pets, has been a challenge. Why? Because consumer preferences have not yet solidified. 

India’s pet care market was estimated to be worth $3.6 billion in 2024, and the pet adoption boom during the pandemic had a large part to play in its value..

Narang told me, “In the US, UK or Europe, which are more evolved markets, people are already on their fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth, tenth dog or cat. Here in India, most people are on their first”.

And one thing all first-time pet parents know is that it takes a while to learn your preferences, your pet’s preferences and your own budgetary limitations. 

Another factor to consider, of course, is the ‘quality’ aspect. Quality costs money, and overall, India is a very price-sensitive market. 

This will no doubt shift as the middle class grows and wages increase. But for now, it feels like HUFT is still ahead of its time. 

Narang said, “I think we've been, as a company, so far ahead of the market, and we're still waiting for it to catch up. It's tested our patience, but we are in the long game”.

What’s next for Heads Up For Tails?

When I asked Narang what’s next for HUFT, the mission was crystal clear. 

“Our dream is for every home in India to experience our products. Each one has been crafted with intention—thoughtfully blending nutrition, design, art, and science. Knowing that families everywhere could feel that care would be the greatest joy for us”.

This means venturing into new avenues and distribution channels. While HUFT is a master of the retail space, the digital arm is catching up. Their website is thriving for commerce and now they are focusing on growing their app. 

Greater efficiency across channels is also in the pipeline. Narang said, “We’d like to streamline things so that you can order online or via our app but have our stores deliver”. 

Partnering with quick commerce platforms has been part of this evolution, as q-commerce is increasingly popular within major cities in India. 

Though retail will remain the bread and butter, HUFT will be expanding their service offering too. 

Narang said, “we've just launched an online pharmacy. We definitely want to grow our services. We see a lot more demand for the spa than imagined, as we’re at capacity in most of our spas”.

And what would make great sense to pair with the pet pharmacy? Veterinary care. However, Narang wants to take her time to find the right partners here.

“Too often in India, the veterinary experience is stressful for both pets and their parents. If we can find the right partners, we’d love to reimagine it—bringing quality, trust, and care back to the heart of vet services”.

So as you can see, the HUFT ecosystem is ambitious and far reaching.

Every so often you come across a brand that is ahead of its time and yet deeply understanding of their customer. HUFT is a beautiful example of that, and they’re continuing to expand. 

Though the Indian pet care market has a little way to catch up, we’re thrilled to see HUFT lead the way. 

Written by Olivia de Santos, Pet Tech Writer @ Unleashed by Purina.