The Pack, a British startup making alternative proteins for pet food, has been acquired by Prefera Petfood, a premium manufacturer founded by industry veterans.
London-based alternative pet food maker The Pack has sold its brand to premium manufacturer Prefera Petfood, with the terms of the transaction undisclosed.
The acquisition comes just weeks after the startup co-launched the UK’s first cultivated meat product for pets, and follows Prefera’s deal to co-produce cultivated mouse meat with another firm in Europe.
The deal will see The Pack co-founders Judy Nadel and Damien Clarkson join the Prefera team to continue to grow their brand in Europe.
“In joining Prefera Petfood, The Pack is going to be able to create the next generation of highly nutritious products for pets,” says Clarkson, who will remain CEO of the brand. “We are excited to combine our skills with the world-class production talent assembled by Prefera and look forward to seeing the brand grow greatly in the coming years.”
He added that the deal would help The Pack develop innovative products and bring them to market much more quickly.
The Pack sells brand after successful year
Clarkson and Nadel – the pair behind agrifood investment platform Vevolution – founded The Pack in 2021, and sell both wet and dry dog food, including Europe’s first complete oven-baked plant-based kibble.
Its products are made from pea protein, lupin beans, vegetables and herbs, and are rich in protein and micronutrients (with a digestibility rate of over 90%). Plus, the use of plant-based ingredients means its meals have a carbon footprint 17 times lower than meat-based dog food.
The company closed an £835,000 seed funding round in December 2022 to bring its total funding to over £1M, before embarking on a crowdfunding campaign last summer. At the time, its sales were up by 39% year-over-year, with the firm “on track for our best-ever financial year”, Clarkson told Green Queen at the time.
He had hinted at the company’s move past vegan products, and into cultivated meat. Building on that, The Pack co-developed oven-baked Chick Bites with London-based cultivated meat startup Meatly, the first company to be approved to sell these proteins in the UK.
The limited-edition dog treats were available at Pets At Home in 50g pouches for £3.49. Clarkson labelled it a “watershed moment”, noting: “Cultivated meat offers a tasty, low-carbon, and healthy protein source, which has the potential to eliminate farmed animals from the pet food industry.”
Pets account for 22% of the UK’s meat consumption, which is more than what British children eat every year. Meanwhile, labradors – the most popular pet dogs in the country – consume 70 million kg of meat annually, nearly 60% more than their owners.
But environmental concerns have pushed half of global consumers to switch pet food brands or products, a number that rises slightly for millennials and Gen Zers, who are increasingly opting to have pets instead of children.
These worries have only deepened over the year – in 2024, over a third (36%) of consumers said they were more likely to pay more for sustainable pet food than three years prior.
Prefera continues M&A trend in plant-based sector
Prefera, meanwhile, was formed in early 2024 by a group of industry veterans, with the team comprising former senior leaders from pet food giants, nutritionists, and veterinarians. The company is a specialist in premium wet pet food production, and sells primarily in Europe.
“The Pack has been one of the pioneering companies in the emerging alternative protein pet food market,” said Nicola Magalini, managing partner of Prefera. He is the former CEO of Lily’s Kitchen, and also worked as an executive at Purina, the pet food brand owned by Nestlé.
“Prefera are excited to add the brand to our growing portfolio of brands to work with Damien Clarkson and Judy Nadel, in growing the brand across Europe and expanding their range of products vastly,” Magalini added.
Last month, Prefera partnered with US startup BioCraft Pet Nutrition to co-manufacture the latter’s cell-cultured mouse ingredient on a commercial scale. The details about the length of the partnership, the production volumes, or the deal’s financials were not disclosed.
However, BioCraft co-founder and CEO Shannon Falconer told Green Queen: “We anticipate being able to offer meaningful volumes of our ingredient to pet food manufacturers in Europe in late 2025.” The firm recently registered its ingredient to sell cultivated meat for pets in the EU.
The Pack’s acquisition is part of a wider trend of mergers and acquisitions in the plant-based sector, where both sales and VC dollars have dried up in recent years. US vegan pet food maker Wild Earth recently filed for bankruptcy, while companies like Wicked Kitchen, Deliciously Ella, Nuggs, Vertage, Blackbird Foods, and Allplants have all been acquired in the last 12 months.
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