Pet treat supplier Sniffers Pet Care has secured £850k in follow-on funding from Traditum Private Equity, following an initial investment of £1.75m by the West Yorkshire based private equity house in September 2022.
Sniffers, based near Halifax, provides natural pet treats for customers including Pets at Home and Jollyes under its challenger brand NAW, which was successfully launched in 2023.
According to Sniffers, the funding will enable Sniffers to accelerate production at its Elland site and deliver an incremental uplift of £3.3m in annual revenue.
The business has experienced “rapid growth” over the past 24 months, with a 40% year-on-year increase in turnover and 85% growth in headcount over the past 12 months, to 37 number of full-time employees.
The first round of funding allowed Sniffers to expand operations and scale manufacturing and distribution capabilities. It has also invested heavily in developing its own IP by rebranding its natural dog treat brands, Buffalo and Walter Smith, to NAW, which stands for No Animal Wasted.
The range is made from 100% air-dried animal parts that are commonly consumed and is now stocked in supermarkets such as Ocado, as well as a range of independent and specialist retailers.
The latest round of funding is strategically supported by Sniffers’ senior leadership team, which includes chief financial officer Peter Harrison and non-executive directors Tom Page, and George Page.
The brothers were appointed in 2023 to provide both marketing and operational expertise, using their “extensive” industry experience gained at the family firm, Inspired Pet Nutrition.
Traditum was supported by legal advice from Paul Johnson and Nina Latham of the law firm Mills and Reeve. Jonathan Simms, Hitesh Tailor and Jonathan Schneider from Clarion Solicitors supported Sniffers Pet Care.
Simon Brown, CEO of Sniffers Pet Care, said: “The subsequent funding from Traditum is a real endorsement of our plan and the launch of our NAW brand last year.
“This will allow us to accelerate our growth in 2024 and make a real impact on the pet market with some exciting future launches.”
Iain Marlow, head of investment for Traditum, added: “Following our investment in Sniffers in 2022, the business has successfully launched the NAW brand, expanded the senior management team and entered new distribution channels, delivering transformation -form for business. .
“At Traditum, we seek to invest in and support exceptional management teams and we could not be prouder to support Simon Brown and his entire team at Sniffers. We are delighted to be able to provide additional funding to the business to support continued growth in these exciting times for the business”.
