Austin, September 28, 2022 – Maev, the first human-grade raw dog food brand, today announces $10 million in fundraising. The milestone round was led by VMG Partners with participation from BFG Partners, Willow Growth Partners, Springdale Ventures, Delivery Hero Ventures, Contrary Capital, Good Friends, and 1st Course Capital.
Since its 2020 founding, Maev has served over 7 million meals and has tripled its subscriber base in 2022 alone. The new funding will be used to support Maev’s impressive growth, including product expansions, veterinarian-backed research and recipe development, and more. The round will also bolster team growth and hiring across all functions of the company.
Maev lowers the barrier to entry for raw dog food with a focus on quality and convenience. A raw diet is the most nutrient-rich, least-processed option available for dogs, but has historically been challenging to adopt. Over the past five years, demand for raw dog food has tripled, yet Maev remains one of the only human-grade, unprocessed raw foods available (despite many brands selling dehydrated or highly-processed ‘raw’ options).
In line with the growth of subscription e-commerce, which is expected to increase from $72.91 billion in 2021 to $120.04 billion in 2022 (Forbes), Maev has a 95% second box retention rate — high above the industry average of just 60%.
“We’re thrilled to have the support of passionate and conscientious investors, all of whom I admire as a founder. With this capital, we’re looking forward to not only expanding our product portfolio, and thus the health and vitality of dogs across the U.S., but also investing in our growing team. We’re most thankful for our loyal community of dog owners; if it weren’t for the care and love they show their pups, none of this exciting growth would be possible for Maev,” says Founder and CEO Katie Spies.
“Maev is poised to become a household name with its unmatched customer retention and affinity, its remarkable innovation, and the pet market’s need for a convenient, quality raw food. We’re thrilled to be supporting Katie’s vision to shape the future of canine wellness,” says Carle Stenmark, General Partner at VMG Partners.
“We believe in Maev’s mission to improve canine health while bringing ease to pet parents’ daily lives. Maev’s exceptional growth, outperformance of competitors and founder Katie Spies’ thoughtful and passionate leadership are just some elements that demonstrate continued positive impact and disruption in the pet industry,” says Ben Fenton, Managing Partner at BFG Partners
About Maev
Maev is the first human-grade raw dog food brand, making it easy to choose the healthiest possible diet for our dogs. With a focus on quality, form and function, Maev is building the future of canine wellness.
From perfectly-portioned packaging to an accessible subscription model, Maev lowers the barrier to entry for raw dog food — the most nutrient-rich, least processed diet available. Maev’s recipes are formulated to meet dogs’ biological needs and are customized to fill in common nutrition gaps for each individual pup. Conveniently served straight out of the freezer for less mess and prep, Maev is real food that you can see.
Founded by Katie Spies in 2020, Maev started as a collective of dog parents who wanted better for their dogs. After Katie’s adopted dog George experienced a health scare, she turned her focus to nutrition to keep him healthy and happy. With help from her pet parent community, she began conducting deep research into the modern dog’s biological needs and the shortcomings of products we’ve been told to trust. Hundreds of trips down the pet aisle later, Katie still couldn’t find a brand she felt confident in feeding George — with clean ingredients, targeted nutrition, balanced supplements and ease. So she set out to create Maev.
After years of research and development with Maev’s dedicated team of veterinary nutritionists, Katie perfected the ideal raw food recipe, meeting the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for all life stages, including growth of large size dogs. Maev’s three beloved products — Raw Food, Daily Vitamin Bars and Bone Broth Topper — are all 100% made in the USA, human-grade using USDA-Certified ingredients, and do not contain any preservatives, synthetics, fillers or by-products.