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The pet care market continues to grow rapidly around the world. In the market, which is expected to exceed 350 billion dollars by 2027, cat - dog food startup Kito received an investment of 5.5 million TL. The local startup, which started to grow abroad, plans to go on another investment tour by the end of the year to reach the European and American markets.

*** This release is originally published in Turkish.

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ISTANBUL (TR) - In recent years, the rapid increase in pet ownership with the increase in nature and environmental awareness has seriously triggered the growth of the animal care industry. According to the data published by Global Market Insight, the pet care market, worth $66.5 billion in 2020, is expected to exceed $350 billion by 2027, while the expenditures of pet owners in our country on cat and dog food are the driving force of the growth in the local market. It is seen that the annual growth of the cat and dog food market, which was 3 billion TL by the end of 2021, reached 50% with the pandemic. TLeveraged by the growth in the local market, Istanbul-based cat - dog food startup Kito announced that it has received a total investment of 5.5 million TL from Serkan Ömerbeyoğlu and Zeta Investments. Having successfully completed its financing round, the venture aims to produce additive-free, natural and fresh products by combining technological and traditional approaches in pet care with the investment it has received, and to popularize healthy food consumption both in the local market and globally.

Kito Founding Partner Cem Üster said, “The standards applicable in the pet industry, especially for food, are not good enough. The use of by-products with very low nutritional value in already processed dog and cat foods can lead to unhealthy or malnourished animals. We know that like us, all pet owners want to do what's best for their cats and dogs. That's why we recently completed the investment round of Kito, the cat and dog food startup that we launched in 2021 in cooperation with Karkas Farm. We aim to grow both in the local market and globally by increasing our healthy and natural food production with a total investment of 5.5 million TL from Serkan Ömerbeyoğlu and Zeta Investments.”

Non-GMO meat used as raw material in pet food

Stating that they produce fresh pet food, dried natural chewing products, food supplements and cookies for cats and dogs, in addition to traditional dry and canned food, Cem Üster told about their business model: “All products in our production facility, approved by the Ministry of Agriculture go through a long-term R&D study. We carry out all our processes under the consultancy of veterinarians corporation with Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. As raw material, we use meat produced in the Carcass Farm without antibiotics and GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms). We differ from other manufacturers in the same category in both chewing and fresh food areas.”

The era of sustainability in pet food production

Saying that they adopted the sustainability principle in pet food production, Kito Co-Founder Alper Çağdaş said, “When we look closely at pet food production around the world, we see that tons of waste, additives and unknown substances are used. In order for our paw friends to have a healthier diet, we obtain our products from ancestral seeds and the meat of animals raised with non-GMO foods. We are working not only to recreate the standards in the local market, but also to grow globally and to explain to all geographies that sustainability, health and happiness are not contradictory concepts and contribute to raising awareness in this direction.”

They will go on an investment tour to increase their overseas sales

Underlining that they started sales not only in Turkey but also abroad thanks to the investment they received, Alper Çağdaş said, “After successfully completing our investment tour, we started our overseas sales with Dubai and Ireland. We are planning to go on another investment tour at the end of 2022 to expand to other geographies, especially to Europe and America. We aim to extend the fresh food alternatives that have just begun to be recognized in the pet food market in our country and to be the leading brand in the center of these categories.”