Other Half raises US$3M to rethink pet supplements from the inside out

Welcome back, readers!

A question for you: When’s the last time you looked at your dog’s supplement label and actually knew what was in it?

This week, we talk to Mike Watts of Other Half, the U.S. startup taking a radically different approach to pet wellness. Mike and co-founder AJ Patel just raised US$3 million to scale the business. (AJ is also the founder of pet brand Zesty Paws, which sold in 2021 for US$610 million).

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In today’s issue, we talk to Mike Watts, Co-founder of Other Half.

• Mike and co-founder AJ Patel announced last month that they’d raised US$3 million in seed funding.

• Mike’s been in consumer packaged goods for over 20 years. Among his many achievements, he’s worked in frozen yoghurt at Yasso, which was sold to Unilever. He also ran sales and marketing at Grillo’s Pickles, which was sold to King’s Hawaiian in 2021.

First, congrats on the fundraise - that's a huge milestone. Could you tell me how Other Half got started?

AJ, my co-founder, was involved with Zesty Paws. I wasn't - I’ve been in human food and consumer packaged goods for over 20 years, but I've owned dogs since I was 10. AJ and I crossed paths last summer, and we started talking about the challenges pet owners face, especially around nutrition.

What were those challenges?

There’s just a lot of misinformation about nutrition for animals in general. So right now, I have a 13 year old lab (Jovie) who is aging, but you know, still wants to be able to be rambunctious. And I think trying to answer questions about what is the appropriate nutrition is very confusing. I think it's becoming more complex as more information gets out there. 

Most of the chews on the market today are full of fillers and binders. When we broke it down, most had only 10-15% active ingredients. So we basically said, can we create something with much more holistic nutrition, a much higher percentage of active ingredients, and it's more preventative.

So you wanted to create something more effective.

Exactly. Most supplements are reactive. You notice your dog’s slowing down, so you buy a joint product. But by the time the owner sees the issue, it's probably already progressed. We asked: what if you could approach this more preventatively, like people do with daily greens or multivitamins?

Our product has 56% active ingredients - much higher than the average. The idea is that with just one or two scoops a day, you support a dog’s nutrition regardless of whether they’re eating fresh food, kibble or wet. It’s about making nutrition simpler and more effective.

You mention the “rule of five” on your website. What does that refer to?

It’s our standard for what we exclude: fillers, additives, binders, inactive ingredients. We also have proprietary blends of vitamins, minerals and supplements that solve for multiple health areas - digestive, joint, skin and coat.

Early feedback has been great. Some customers come for joint health and end up seeing improvement in skin and coat, which they weren’t even looking for.

How are you planning to stand out in such a noisy supplement market?

We’re leaning on the science and on the clinical studies. We're using clinically studied ingredients with third-party validation. A lot of products out there are just 2.0 versions of the same idea. We're trying to change the way people think about pet supplements. We're looking to change the attitude of the pet owner around supplements. You don't need to have this litany (of different supplements). This is a one size fits all for you. 

I saw you’ve published clinical studies that are being peer-reviewed. Will that be ongoing?

That’s the plan. Right now we’re leaning on third-party ingredient studies, which gives credibility. But ultimately, if we can provide some clinical studies around the finished product as well, that’s going to be part of our strategy.

Do you think the pet industry needs more regulatory oversight?

Yes. I think there should be more focus on finished product testing. That’s something that’s become standard in human nutrition but hasn’t carried over to pets yet. We're trying to do more self-regulation through transparency. We want consumers to know exactly what they're getting and where it comes from.

Let’s talk fundraising. You mentioned plans to scale and expand your pipeline - can you tell me more?

Without giving too much away, our goal is to create products that simplify pet nutrition across all life stages. That’s a gap in the market - especially for older pets - and it’s something we’re actively researching.

Do you have any plans for international expansion?

Right now, we’re focused on the U.S. There's a huge opportunity here. Maybe 24 to 36 months down the line, we’ll look at Canada or elsewhere, but it’s too early to say.

What kind of repeat customer rate are you seeing?

About a third of our monthly revenue is already from repeat customers, and that number is growing. We’re DTC, but we’re also on Amazon, TikTok Shop and Chewy.

Do you see Other Half eventually launching cat products?

Everything’s on the table. Our short-term focus is on dogs, but as we expand, we’ll likely look at other pets as well.

What’s your take on pet startup funding? Is the appetite still there?

It’s very healthy. Pet is like the baby category. If you meet a real need, it becomes incredibly sticky. Our repeat rate shows that. If you solve the right problem, you can scale fast. That’s what attracts investors.

Final question: Do you have a Chief Tasting Officer like Zesty Paws?

We don’t have just one, we do palatability studies with 15 to 20 dogs each time. We got to make sure the dogs love the product. Ours is bacon and pumpkin flavoured, and dogs clean the bowl every time. So not only are you giving them something healthy, you’re actually enhancing the flavour of the food.

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