At Unleashed by Purina, we have one mission: to be the partner of choice for cutting-edge pet tech startups. And the Class of 2025 did not disappoint!
This year’s cohort of seven innovative startups included representation from across Europe, Asia and Latin America. The technology here ranged from AI chatbots to biometric nose IDs; technology we know will be game changing for pet parents everywhere.
At the beginning of the programme, back in February 2025, we paired each startup with industry and regional experts we call Purina Unleashed Champs. These Champs mentored our winners’ teams to define their business model, gain valuable insights from market research and build a strategy for ongoing collaboration with Purina.
Our programme isn’t ‘one size fits all’. We tailor the objectives and game plan depending on the startups’ needs. For yet another year, we’re blown away by the results.
Meet the Class of 2025
On to Graduation Day: a Friday afternoon in June. We virtually gathered to celebrate the achievements of our graduates.
Here are the highlights.
Petnow – App-based pet biometric identification
Petnow is the creator of the world's first biometric ID system using nose and face recognition via smartphone scan. The South Korean startup came to us with an impressive user base already locked in.
“We're active in over 19 countries and growing fast. To date, we've served over 150,000 users and completed biometric scans for over 32,200 accounts”, said Johnny Shin, Business Development Manager at Petnow.
During the team’s 20 weeks, they focused on a proof of concept of a nutrition recommendation track in France and a cat onboarding track in the UK. They combined market research of over 750 pet owners, landing pages and free sample rewards to test conversion and learn more about their target audience.
Top achievements:
- Created a working business and revenue model
- Identified target audiences in international markets
- Perfected a data pipeline that supports nutrition, retail and recovery loss per recovery with verified accuracy
SmartPetCare – Revolutionising pet care with the iKitty Feeder
Swiss startup SmartPetCare has one vision in mind: to make it simpler to feed cats nutritious wet food. Given that cats are notoriously terrible at drinking enough water, wet food is a staple for many cat parents. And yet, it’s inconvenient, messy and difficult to do at a distance. Enter the iKitty. The iKitty is a fully automated wet cat-food feeder powered by Nespresso-esque capsules.
“We were able to define a target group of 30 million cat households within Europe and North America. Even at an extremely conservative 10% adoption rate of our target group, we would be able to sell multiple hundreds of millions of capsules every month, which will translate into billion-dollar revenues annually”, said Frank Carlson, CEO of SmartPetCare.
During the Unleashed by Purina programme, the team focused on extensive market research of over 700 cat owners to test the market viability, price point and use cases for the iKitty system. They also ran a small MVP test in select customer homes for qualitative data.
Top achievements:
- Cat parents who used the iKitty used it more than they were expecting
- High adoption rate during in-home tests
- Primary pain points and target price point was validated
PetPaw – An innovative app connecting pet owners with pets, products and services
PetPaw is a Thailand-based e-commerce app, with over 5,000 SKUs. They also have one of the fastest growing retail chains in Thailand.
Trinnasit “Ken” Jarurangsiwat, CEO of PetPaw said, “Last year we made 5.5million in revenue. This year, we expect to get the revenue around 9 million”.
During their 20 weeks with us, PetPaw successfully launched an MVP of an AI consultation service, which could accurately answer common pet parent questions and make intuitive recommendations for nutrition and telemedicine.
Top achievements:
- Tested their AI chatbot with over 400 real-life users
- Raised the brand awareness for PurinaPro Plan within the PetPaw ecosystem by 16%
- Exhibited at the Pet Expo in Thailand to increase brand loyalty
Hubii – Connecting brands, retailers and consumers
Hubii is a retail tech company that provides same day deliveries for small retailers across pet, pharma and food and beverage.
“We fulfill more than 35,000 orders per month across Brazil. We have over 300 retailers on our platform”, said Leonardo Seara, Business Development Manager at hubii.
The team focused on piloting an MVP for a WhatsApp chatbot that could make recommendations based on the user’s questions and fulfill the order with seamless payment processes and fast delivery.
Top achievements:
- Validated an engaged supply network within a central Brazilian city for express orders and fulfillment
- Launched a conversational commerce MVP via WhatsApp
- Conducted research to test the customer journey
Petsy – Connecting pet owners with trusted pet sitters
Finding trusted pet sitters has always been a pain point for pet parents. Petsy is on a mission to change that.
Michał Wojewoda, Founder and CEO of Petsy said, “We have over 60,000 registered pet owners and a network of pet sitters across Poland and Czechia”.
Their objectives during the programme were to increase the brand’s visibility, train pet sitters to be trusted guides to their clients and launch a special package programme of Purina Pro Plan for 150 pet parents.
Top achievements:
- Launched an innovative ad campaign
- Successfully integrated a scalable nutritional recommendation system
- Carried out live training workshops for over 100 pet sitters
AITEM – Your AI-powered veterinary companion for smarter decision making
Italy-based AI tech company AITEM came to us with a well-developed proprietary vet chatbot called LAIKA. The system had active users in Italy, France and the UK.
Alessandra Chianale, Chief Product Officer said, “LAIKA is designed to help the vet to save time, cost and of course to save more pet lives”.
The goal for their programme was to adapt their AI tool to embed nutritional guidance in an effective and scalable way. They started by collecting qualitative data from their Italian users to see how real life vets integrate AI into their workflow. Then, they tested an MVP for an AI nutrition assistant.
Top achievements:
- Confirmation from real vets that the AI tool saves them time
- Gathered valuable insights about how and when vets are open to using AI
- Developed a viable nutrition recommendation track that builds brand awareness for Purina
Umami Bioworks – Where science-backed nutrition meets sustainability
Singapore-based startup Umami Bioworks is revolutionising pet food with cultivated fish.
“We have developed cultivated fish, which is real seafood made from fish cells without the environmental destruction or animal cruelty”. said Ashwath Bendre, Product Manager at Umami Bioworks.
Their objective during their 20-week programme was simple: to test the viability, feasibility and desirability of incorporating cultivated fish into Purina's wet cat food portfolio.
However, due to some regulatory hiccups, they weren’t able to test the cultivated fish samples during the 20-week period. But they did manage to test customer desirability with qualitative interviews and a series of meta ads.
Top achievements:
- Achieved 80,000 impressions on Facebook ads
- Gained valuable customer insights on how pet parents may accept cultivated fish
- Built a two year production plan taking into account regulatory pathways from Singapore to Europe
Furthering the Purina mission
The 2020s have been a rollercoaster in the pet industry. Yet, the startups we partner with continue to exceed our expectations by pioneering technology and strong growth paths.
As we continue the Unleashed by Purina mission, we’re excited to work with growth stage pet startups and support them as they reach their full potential.
A special thanks to the Purina Unleashed Champs who continue to go above and beyond to help our startups achieve their goals.
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See you in 2026!