Tuggs secures £1.1m funding
The startup is working with an established partner as their fresh food manufacturer in the UK and proudly uses Red Tractor certified standards, which boast a high accreditation of animal welfare
UK insect-based dog food brand Tuggs has secured £1.1m funding from a range of institutional investors after tripling its revenues in the last nine months.
The pre-seed of £1.1m secured earlier this year has contributed to key business developments over the last five months including team hiring, product development and marketing investment.
The team’s headcount has increased by 100% in the last year as it expands into key divisions such as customer services as well as building out existing teams in product engineering and business development.
A key focus for the fresh pet food brand has been moving production wholly to the UK, as it looks to further align its sustainable and organic values across the business.
Tuggs, which launched in 2022, currently operates solely on a D2C subscription model, and Henry Bremner, founder of Tuggs, attributes the success to the group’s sustainable approach.
Tuggs mixes insects with other meats, fish and vegetables to create a product that they say offers consumers healthy dog food options that is “more gentle on the planet”.
The startup is working with an established partner as their fresh food manufacturer in the UK and proudly uses Red Tractor certified standards, which boast a high accreditation of animal welfare.
Bremner said: “Our ethos is about reducing reliance on livestock without compromising on the nutritional composition of the food. The main reason that consumers are choosing Tuggs is due to the quality of our products. However, we believe the onus is on us as a brand to build the product as sustainably as we can, which is why we’re pioneering the use of alternative proteins such as insects.
“We have now proven that there is a very strong product-market fit for our offering, and we’re beginning the next stage of scaling. We recently achieved one of the biggest milestones in our journey which was moving our entire production and supply chain to the UK.”
He added: “This has given us much greater control over our product development as well as providing significantly more scope for growth. We’re excited as we look ahead to 2025 where we’ll have the infrastructure in place to begin scaling much quicker whilst adding to our product offering.”
