Butternut Box raises £280m from General Atlantic and L Catterton to fuel further European expansion
By Nick Stocks, General Partner, and Blanche Ajarrista, Vice Principal
We are incredibly proud to share that Butternut Box has closed a £280m funding round with General Atlantic and L Catterton, to further the brand’s presence in Europe and continue its mission to deliver health and happiness to dogs around the world.
Our journey as an investor in Butternut Box has been a very satisfying one as we have watched Kev, Dave, and the rest of the company grow from a small startup delivering boxes from a small kitchen in east London to the largest manufacturer of fresh dog food in Europe and an international company serving over a million meals to healthy and happy dogs across the UK, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland.
As part of this fresh round of funding, White Star Capital is selling some of its shares in the company, but as a firm will continue to hold a board seat and 9% ownership stake through WSC Fund II and our Butternut Box SPV. We look forward to providing the team with our continued support as they enter this next stage of growth — for us, this is just the beginning of what Butternut Box can achieve.
We first met Kev and Dave back in 2017 and spent some time learning about how the former Goldman traders with a passion for dogs wanted to change the pet care market after an experience that led Dave to change the name of his dog to “Rudie”. Our experience in DTC and disruptive commerce models (Dollar Shave Club, Freshly, Adore Me) told us that not only were they onto something big, but they were the right mix of passionate, detail-oriented, and data-driven to create a beloved brand that would scale widely. Having tracked their growth from 100 dogs to 1,000 dogs we eventually decided to lead their Series A.
Our investment thesis at the time identified two things that were key to building a successful DTC brand: first, be able to provide a premium service with a strong brand and emotional hook at the same or slightly above price, and second, the subscription service should be servicing a recurring need rather than a want, where convenience becomes a key selling point.
While we see many DTC brands struggling, Butternut Box continues to thrive and build an enduring and disruptive brand. They achieve this by:
- building an incredible team and fostering a mission-driven culture of excellence and humility, hiring functional heads from relevant companies such as Ocado, Gousto, HelloFresh, Hostmaker and more
- prioritising customer experience above and beyond, resulting in world-class unit economics and retention, and consistently showing up for customers through the smallest details
- experimenting at a small scale, while surrounding themselves with world-class advisors, to build the operational expertise which led to Rudie’s Kitchen, the largest fresh pet food manufacturing facility in Europe
Kev and Dave and the rest of the team have gone from strength to strength, from the launch of Rudie’s kitchen, to navigating the operational complexity of entering new markets, and then growing the family through their acquisition of PsiBufet in Poland. Butternut Box is Europe’s largest fresh dog food brand, feeding dogs across the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Poland.
They now look to a more sustainable future, becoming B Corp certified in 2022 and implementing numerous changes to their waste and energy usage, their ingredients and packaging, and their interactions with local communities, suppliers, and customers. You can read more about their impact here.
The transaction’s closing is subject to customary regulatory conditions, but is expected to occur in Q4 2023. You can read Butternut Box’s press release here.
We’re really excited about this next stage of Butternut Box’s growth as they pursue their mission to deliver health and happiness to dogs and their humans all over the world and remain bullish on the future of tech-enabled pet innovation. If you’re interested in discussing the future of the space please do reach out to our team.
