The modern dog startup raises a $17.8M Series B.

🐶 Monday Startup Deep Dive: Jinx

📃 Message from the Team

We wanted to provide you with more value, so we went back to the drawing board and we’re so excited to release our new content structure! Each month, we’ll dive deep into 2-3 startups.

🔍️ Monday: Deep Dive into the startup.
🗣️ Wednesday: DeelScoop exclusive interview with the startup’s founder
📃 Friday: A list of the most recent, top investment deals by industry

Be sure to come back on Wednesday to hear insights, lessons and advice from Terri Rockovich, CEO of Jinx.

Have a startup you want featured? Get in touch: [email protected]

- Team @ DeelScoop

🤝 Modern living meets modern dog.

Jinx is a dog food company that helps modern-day pet owners improve the quality of food and life of their dogs. The brand started as a Direct-to-Consumer brand which is now expanding into retail partnerships, becoming one of the fastest growing brands in retail.

💰️ Who’s funding this?

Despite a harsh fundraising environment, Jinx successfully raised $17.8M for their Series B round. The round saw participation from 3 follow-on investors; VF Ventures, Align Ventures (lead investor) and The Merchant Club (lead investor). A new investor joined the round too: Country Range Group.

Previous rounds saw celebrity participation from Chris Evans, Trevor Noah, Odell Beckham, Lilly Singh and Halsey.

🤹 Let’s meet the brains behind Jinx

1. Terri Rockovich (Co-Founder & CEO): ex-Acquisition & Retention Marketing at Casper (founding team member + first marketing hire), ex-Chief Digital Officer at Outdoor Voices. Tune in Wednesday to hear from our internview with Terri!

2. Michael Kim (Co-Founder & COO): ex-Commercial Strategy & Planning at Casper, ex-Founder at Kim Ventures.

3. Sameer Mehta (Co-Founder): ex-Strategic Partnerships at Casper

👀 A further look into Jinx

📈 Where’s the growth coming from?

Jinx 's growth came in part from celebrity-endorsed marketing strategies, retail presence and its curated brand identity. To date, Jinx is available in over 5,000 stores nationwide: Walmart, Target, Petsmart and more. The Series B will be instrumental in expanding the retail presence, a strategy Jinx believes will provide strong growth.

At launch in 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Jinx first started selling subscription plans for dog food deliveries. This helped introduce the first returning customers and build brand loyalty. Despite being available in retail locations, this subscription service is still being employed online.

In Q3 of 2022, Jinx announced its partnership with Chris Evans (actor & Jinx Investor). Evans, who plays an active role in creative strategy at the startup, appeared in a Jinx commercial with his dog, Dodger.

Growth has also been derived from the identity Jinx was able to build. “Gripping from the concepts of parenthood and childhood”, Jinx was able to coin a dog-hood identity that would fit modern day pet-owners. The branding strategy & execution paved the way for Jinx to become the go-to dog-food company for modern dog-owners.

🤼 Who are the competitors?

The dog food market has long been characterized by big-name brands dominating the shelves. The rise of startups has been essential to meeting key needs such as varying nutritonal needs, tastes and lifestyles of pets and owners. Jinx has tapped into a niche within this market and has accurately created a product offering that appeals to a very specific type of dog owner, millenials with modern lifestyles - a demographic that is rapidly growing. The company's strategy to leverage digital platforms, social media and influencer partnerships has been ideal for their target demographic and a big reason for growth.

The pet-food industry is packed with competitors offering similar solutions. Creating healthy, balanced diets for pets has been around for a while now, with startups having been successful in exiting. Jinx’s marketing strategy and brand identity is what makes them stand out against the rest; they’re offering a certain lifestyle and community above just selling dog food.

Notable competitors:

1. Blue Buffalo: Acquired by General Mills in 2018 for $8.0B.

2. Solid Gold: Acquired by H&H Group in 202 for $163.0M.

3. Purina: Acquired by Nestle in 2001 for $10.4B.

💻️ Careers at Jinx: Click here.

Director of Brand Marketing
Director of National Accounts, Grocery

For General Applications: [email protected]