Why Attend
The Petcare Innovation Summit USA is back for the 4th year and we’re face-to-face!
What is new for 2021?
With the tremendous growth in pet parents globally, the petcare market is growing exponentially with forecasted growth expected to reach $358.62 billion by 2021 and bringing with it huge opportunities. For 2021, we have expanded our content to cover some of the latest industry developments within:
- Petcare Innovation
- US pet insurance
- Sustainability
- Health
- Nutrition
- Business models
- Personalization
Including
- Big Data: What impact are wearables and tech having on the pet market and how you can capitalise on the opportunities this presents.
- Hear industry leaders discuss the growing importance of personalization and nutrition in preventative holistic health.
- Discover what opportunities the underused USA Pet insurance market presents.
Join our leading network of pioneers in investment, pet health, pet food and pet products, with new additions in insurance, tech, nutrition, and personalization and network face-to-face across 2 days and meet your future petcare partners.
Our split content tracks in health and consumer trends allow you to completely personalize your experience at the event. The best in Show Spotlight is back and bigger than ever, connecting key financial investors with the best start-ups in the USA petcare market - driving collaboration, innovation, and partnership within petcare.
See you in Boston December 7-8th.
Who Will Be There
Emerging & Mid-sized Brands
Expect exciting and innovative brands from accross all pet categories:
- Food
- Treats
- Supplements
- Veterinary
- Accessories
- Hard Products
- Insurance
- Retail
- Services
- Technology
- Everything else!
Best In Show
Highlighting innovation across the petcare space is at the core of this event. The Best in Show Spotlight will be hosted across the two days allowing more start-ups than ever to present their offerings to our audience of strategic and financial investors.
The finalist pet brands will be handpicked by the prestigious selection committee to present their products or services on stage for 3 minutes on the main stage in a quick-fire round of presentations followed by a Q&A with the selection committee.
Our 2021 finalists are:
Selection Committee
Andrew Katz
Brian Axe
Eli Hasson
Eli Hasson is founding partner of PHIL Ventures (Pet Health Innovation Labs) – the early-stage investments arm of Australia’s PETstock group.
Based in Tel Aviv, Eli has over 25 years’ experience in the Israeli tech sector – with deep knowledge in business strategy and multi-national operations. He was involved in multiple disruptive digital health ventures and led several technology mega-projects. Eli co-founded Quantum Discoveries – an industry-disrupting mineral exploration company that develops and deploys innovative technologies, operating in Chile and US.
Besides his passion for tech & innovation, Eli is an avid jazz musician and improviser.
Ryan McGuigan
Ryan is a Principal at Rx3, responsible for managing all aspects of the fund’s investment process, including sourcing, diligence and portfolio management. Previously, Ryan was an associate on the consumer and retail team at Carlyle Group, where he focused on evaluating new investments and supporting the management team at NBTY, a portfolio company. He also worked as a summer associate for CircleUp Growth Partners, an early-stage consumer fund. Ryan began his career as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley focused on the consumer and retail sectors. He earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard and his MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
Bruce Truman
2021 SPEAKERS
Alexandre Douzet
Zubin Bhettay
Apryle Horbal
Steve Lerner
Steve Lerner is the Head of Marketing for the Animal Health and Nutrition division of Chr. Hansen. In this role, Steve and his team are responsible for bringing Chr. Hansen’s science-based, research-proven products to the North American animal health and production markets, including beef cattle feedlots, commercial dairies and calf ranches, and poultry and egg production facilities. Steve has a Ph.D. in Reproductive Physiology from West Virginia University and a post-doctoral Fellowship in Molecular Genetics from the University of Southern California. He holds an M.S. in Biology/Embryology from West Virginia University and a B.S. in Zoology from University of Maryland. Prior to joining Chr. Hansen, Steve worked at Nutrition Physiology Company as Vice President of Product Development and Commercialization.
Tim Bettington
Tim Bettington is executive vice president and president, U.S. Operations and Global Customer Experience. Mr. Bettington leads our U.S. commercial operations supporting our livestock and companion animal portfolios. Additionally, he leads our Global Customer Experience function, where he leverages his extensive experience in the worldwide animal health industry.
Prior to joining Zoetis in 2020, Mr. Bettington enjoyed a successful, diverse and global career in the animal health industry for more than 20 years, working in both the livestock and companion animal sectors. He joined Zoetis from Boehringer Ingelheim where he served as North American Region Head of Commercial Operations for its animal health business. In that role, Mr. Bettington had oversight for the Pet Veterinary, Pet OTC, Cattle, Swine, Equine and Poultry businesses. During his tenure at Boehringer Ingelheim and previously at Novartis Animal Health, Mr. Bettington worked in the U.S., Europe and Australia and developed a deep expertise in sales excellence, marketing, strategy and business integration.
Mr. Bettington holds a bachelor's degree in Agriculture from Western Sydney University and a master's degree in Marketing Management from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management in Sydney.
David Sprinkle
Jim Galovski
Jim Heim
Eli Hasson
Eli Hasson is founding partner of PHIL Ventures (Pet Health Innovation Labs) – the early-stage investments arm of Australia’s PETstock group.
Based in Tel Aviv, Eli has over 25 years’ experience in the Israeli tech sector – with deep knowledge in business strategy and multi-national operations. He was involved in multiple disruptive digital health ventures and led several technology mega-projects. Eli co-founded Quantum Discoveries – an industry-disrupting mineral exploration company that develops and deploys innovative technologies, operating in Chile and US.
Besides his passion for tech & innovation, Eli is an avid jazz musician and improviser.
Dr Kash Kuruppu
Guilherme Coelho
Co-founder and CEO @ Maven - I don't know what life is without pets! That's why I'm building the first AI+Human that knows if your pet is safe and healthy 24/7.
Nick Stafford
Ryan Bethencourt
Amanda Rolat
Adrien Malka
Anya Babbit
Terri Rockovich
Yaroslav Azhynuk
Sue Delegan
Pete Wedderburn
Dr Pete Wedderburn BVM&S CertVR MRCVS is a qualified veterinarian since 1985. He has worked in his own four-veterinarian companion animal practice in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland since 1991, and he has his own menagerie of dogs, cats, ducks, hens and a few other furry friends! His mission in life is to communicate high-quality information to pet owners, in an entertaining, engaging way. As part of this mission, he is a founder of the innovative pet health information website, www.petfixclub.com, which launched in late 2020.
Dennis Chmiel
Jonathan Wainberg
Shaina Denny
Shaina is the Founder and CEO of Dogdrop— an LA based start-up building the next generation of dog care. Shaina went to business school in Shanghai and ended up staying in China for over three years to work at early stage tech start-ups before returning to the US to get involved in the growing LA tech scene. She has her Masters of International Business and is a co-instructor and guest lecturer at Whittier College. She's passionate about international business, lifelong learning, and her mini dachshund, Poppy!
Lisa Tamayo
Lisa Tamayo serves as CEO for Scollar, bringing over 25 years of experience in entrepreneurship, business development, leadership, as well as financial and strategic planning to the company. She has extensive experience in Arts Administration and has worked with the San Francisco Opera Center and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, as well as Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa. She was a Co-Founder of Green Building Studio, Inc., which created a SaaS tool and XML schema to condense weeks of architecture and engineering work into mere minutes. Green Building Studio, Inc. was acquired by Autodesk in 2008. Lisa served on the Board of Directors and Program Committee for the North Bay Angels and holds a BA in Electronic Music and an MBA in Sustainable Enterprise.
Ryan Boyko
Ryan Boyko co-founded Embark in 2015 to combine dog genetic consumer insights with cutting-edge research so our canine companions can live healthier, longer lives. He is Embark's CEO. Embark built the most accurate dog DNA test on the market to give pet owners and breeders actionable insights into their dogs' genetic health and ancestry. Its research-grade test will help scientists discover causes and cures for major canine diseases. Prior to founding Embark, Ryan developed a love for fieldwork and community science while earning a computer science BA from Harvard, a public health MS from Yale, and an ecology MS from UC Davis.
Richard Kestenbaum
Richard is a co-founder and Partner of Triangle Capital and has been an investment banker for over 35 years. Richard has a great deal of experience advising clients in merchandising businesses, particularly in the Retail & Consumer sector. Richard is an often-quoted expert on the retail and merchandising industries. He is a Contributor to Forbes.com where he writes a regular blog about trends in retail and consumer product businesses. He also appears regularly in print and other media as well as industry panels and speaking programs.
Before co-founding Triangle, Richard was a Managing Director at a boutique investment banking firm called Financo, Inc. While at Financo, Richard was responsible for a majority of the firm’s apparel industry transactions. Prior to joining Financo, Richard was a Partner and First Vice President at Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. At Drexel, Richard was responsible for a group of 14 professionals doing middle-market mergers and acquisitions around the world.
Richard is the co-author of three books on finance and computer programming. He is formerly an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International Business at the graduate program of the Stern School of Business at York University.
Richard received a BS in Accounting from New York University and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from Harvard University. Richard is married and lives in New York.
Click here to read Richard’s blog and follow him on Forbes.com.
Rebecca Rose
Rebecca Rose is the President and CEO of InClover Research, a leader in scientifically formulated supplements for animals.
Rebecca founded InClover after spending 15 years in the areas of human and animal drug and supplement development, regulatory protocol, and commercialization. She worked with CDC, NIH and FDA to successfully commercialize four novel technology-based products. Rebecca is the author of three patents on the composition and method for treating joint disorder in vertebrates.
Her work with InClover includes product innovation and sustainability. InClover continues to build on their commitment to pets, people and planet. The have employed over 40 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities at their Boulder office. They have logged over 500 hours on their journey to B Corp certification and have been named the Top Impact Award Winner for Supplements from the Pet Sustainability Coalition.
Rebecca has degrees in Biochemistry and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Denver.
Steve Smith
Steve Smith is President and Co-Founder of Pet Releaf. Pet Releaf is an INC 5000 company, the industry pioneer and market leader in CBD products for pets, and a Founding Sponsor of the IndiePet organization. In addition to his role at Pet Releaf, Steve is on the Board of Directors of the Hemp Industries Association, and is the Vice President and member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable is the group that assisted in drafting and passing the 2018 Farm Bill which formally legalized hemp and hemp derived products in the US. As part of his work with the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, Steve also sits on the 5 person FDA Committee which is working directly with the FDA’s CBD Task Force helping to draft national regulations over hemp derived extracts and products.
Prior to founding Pet Releaf, Steve spent 14 years as the the owner and developer of multiple successful real estate development projects in the Treasure Coast area of Florida. Steve began his career as a CPA, working as a Senior Auditor for Deloitte before moving in house as a corporate controller for Learning Technologies Ltd, the largest Disney licensee in all of Asia during his tenure.
A Florida State University graduate, Steve received his BS in Accounting with a minor in International Business.
Nicolas Chereque
Growing and monetizing digital audiences since 2001, Nico became an entrepreneur in the pet industry in 2008 when he founded petMD.com. Since then he held VP positions at Pet360, Petsmart and Petco, and created some of the largest pet media networks online today.
In 2019, he co-founded Metamorphosis Partners, now owners of GreatPetCare.com, Dogs Of Instagram and PawPrint.
Nathan Marafioti
Meagan Loyst
Meagan Loyst is an Investor at Lerer Hippeau, the most active venture capital firm in NY, where she focuses on seed stage investing & Pet Tech. Meagan is also the Founder of Gen Z VCs, the largest and fastest growing community for Gen Zers in Tech and VC with over 11,000 members. Lerer Hippeau has been investing in Pet Tech for the past decade, supporting companies like BarkBox, Fi, Companion, The Dodo, Ollie, Small Door Veterinary, FidoCure and Corro. She created Lerer Hippeau's "Pet Tech Landscape" market map and blog post earlier this year which has seen 8k+ views, and was featured in Pitchbook for her thoughts on the evolving Pet Tech category.
Dr. Sarah Machell
Dr. Sarah is the Medical Director for Vetster, the fastest growing veterinary telehealth platform in North America. Dr. Sarah has been practicing as a small animal veterinarian, treating dogs and cats, in the Greater Toronto area since 1997 and established and operated North Oakville Animal Hospital (NOAH) for 18 years. Dr. Sarah is deeply committed to providing the finest quality veterinary care to her pet owners and their pets, and well-known in her community and to her NOAH clients for her compassion and love of animals.
The Agenda
Find out who will be speaking at the 4th annual Petcare Innovation Summit. Simply fill in this form and you can access a PDF version immediately.
Key speakers include:
Download 2021 Agenda
Conference Packages
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Partners
Headline Partner
Zoetis
Website: www.zoetis.com
Zoetis is the leading animal health company, dedicated to supporting its customers and their businesses. Building on more than 65 years of experience in animal health, Zoetis discovers, develops, manufactures and commercializes medicines, vaccines and diagnostic products, which are complemented by biodevices, genetic tests and precision livestock farming. Zoetis serves veterinarians, livestock producers and people who raise and care for farm and companion animals with sales of its products in more than 100 countries. In 2019, the company generated annual revenue of $6.3 billion with approximately 10,600 employees.
For more information, visit www.zoetis.com.
Associate Partner
Elanco
Website: www.elanco.com
Elanco Animal Health (NYSE: ELAN) is a global leader in animal health dedicated to innovating and delivering products and services to prevent and treat disease in farm animals and pets, creating value for farmers, pet owners, veterinarians, stakeholders, and society as a whole. With nearly 70 years of animal health heritage, we are committed to helping our customers improve the health of animals in their care, while also making a meaningful impact on our local and global communities. At Elanco, we’re driven by our vision of Food and Companionship Enriching life and our Elanco Healthy Purpose™ CSR framework – all to advance the health of animals, people and the planet.
Gold Event Partner
PetsBest / CareCredit
Website: https://www.petsbest.com/
For more than 30 years, CareCredit has been a leading health and pet care credit card that gives pet parents a flexible, budget-friendly way to pay for all of their pet’s veterinary care with available financing options. Today, CareCredit is accepted at 24,000+ veterinary hospital locations nationwide, as well as 250,000+ health, wellness and personal care provider and retail locations. Pets Best offers pet insurance and wellness plans for dogs and cats in every state. Founded in 2005 with a mission to provide access to comprehensive animal healthcare at an affordable price, Pets Best delivers flexible coverage, an easy claims process, and excellent customer service. Together, CareCredit and Pets Best offer a complete financial solution to help clients manage the cost of a Lifetime of Care for their pets.
CareCredit and Pets Best are solutions from Synchrony’s Health and Wellness platform. Synchrony is a premier consumer financial services company that delivers a wide range of specialized financing programs, as well as innovative consumer banking products, across key industries including digital, retail, home, auto, travel, health and pet.
Pet Insurance is administered by Pets Best Insurance Services, LLC and is underwritten by American Pet Insurance Company, a New York insurance company. Visit www.americanpetinsurance.com to review all available pet health insurance products.
For more information on Pets Best, visit www.PetsBest.com
For more information on CareCredit, visit www.carecredit.com.
FirstVet
Website: https://firstvet.com/
FirstVet is a service that offers video call veterinary consultations for pet owners to provide instant peace of mind about the health of their pets. FirstVet was founded in Stockholm in 2016 and has since expanded to the Nordics, the United Kingdom, the US, and Germany, employing a team of 75 staff and 350 veterinarians.
Available on iOS and Android, FirstVet allows pet-owners to arrange video calls with registered vets who, in addition to offering advice on treatments and symptoms, can also refer them to a local vet. Video appointments can be booked in as often as necessary, with users often being able to meet with vets within 20 minutes. Each month, the FirstVet consultants improve the lives of thousands of animals from cats, dogs, rabbits, reptiles, to birds, hamsters, and horses.
Chr. Hansen
Website: https://www.chr-hansen.com/en/animal-health/pets
Chr. Hansen is a leading, global bioscience company that develops natural ingredient solutions for the food, agricultural and pharmaceutical industries, including animal health and nutrition. We have been delivering value to our partners in many different industries for over 145 years. Since 2020, we are on a mission to help pet care brands achieve excellence in their probiotics play. We offer a portfolio of live probiotics for use in pet food, treats and pet supplements. Our product innovation is inspired by nature and backed by the latest science. We believe in the importance of a healthy microbiome and rely on the Power of Good Bacteria™ to address the needs of the pets, pet parents and the pet care industry. Let’s grow a better world for pets. Naturally.
Contact us at Chr. Hansen Pet Health & Nutrition to learn more: [email protected] or chr-hansen.com/pets.
Nestlé Purina
Website: https://www.purina.co.uk/
Nestlé Purina PetCare creates richer lives for pets and the people who love them. Founded in 1894, Purina has helped dogs and cats live longer, healthier lives by offering scientifically based nutritional innovations. Purina manufactures some of the world's most trusted and popular pet care products, including Purina ONE, Pro Plan, Fancy Feast and Tidy Cats. Our more than 8,700 U.S. associates take pride in our trusted pet food, treat and litter brands that feed 51 million dogs and 65 million cats every year. More than 500 Purina scientists, veterinarians, and pet care experts ensure our commitment to unsurpassed quality and nutrition.
Purina promotes responsible pet care through our scientific research, our products and our support for pet-related organizations. Over the past five years, Purina has contributed more than $150 million towards organizations that bring, and keep, people and pets together, as well as those that help our communities and environment thrive.
Purina is part of Nestlé, a global leader in Nutrition, Health and Wellness. For more information, visit purina.com.
Kinship
Website: https://kinship.co/
Kinship is here to help everyone pet parent like a pro. Why? Because our pets make us better humans, and we owe them the best possible care. As the premier partner to a new generation of pet parents, we use our data, products, and services to help people be the best pet parents they can be. And we unite changemakers in pet care to break down barriers, open new doors, share insights, and advance our collective knowledge. All so we can reimagine the pet parenting experience, and up people’s confidence, and help the world find better ways to care.
Kinship is a coalition that includes WISDOM PANEL™, the world’s most accurate pet DNA test, WHISTLE™, an award-winning leader in smart monitors for pet health, THE WILDEST™, one destination that helps people ace it for their animals, Pet Insight Project, a pioneer in interpreting health data to improve pets’ lives, GoodFriend by Kinship, a platform that connects pet parents and care providers, and Adopt-a-Pet.com, a site that helps share homeless pets with millions of adopters. As well as partnerships like our Leap Venture Studio accelerator that supports innovators and start-ups, to bring new solutions to pet parents.
Together, our brands, teams, and partners work to set new standards in pet care. Kinship is a division on Mars Petcare
MFA
Website: foundanimals.org
Michelson Found Animals Foundation is a leading animal welfare non-profit that believes people and pets are better together. Generously funded by Dr. Gary Michelson and Alya Michelson, Found Animals operates a range of catalytic grants, impact investments, operating programs, and education and advocacy initiatives that share a common goal: to champion pets at every point they intersect with our society. Found Animals has helped more than 8 million pets since it was founded in 2005. Learn more at foundanimals.org.
Leap
Website: https://www.leapventurestudio.com/
Leap Venture Studio & Academy is the first startup-centric accelerator program built to springboard innovation in the growing pet ecosystem
Capstone Partners
Website: www.capstonepartners.com
Capstone Partners is one of the largest and most active investment banking firms in the U. S. For over 20 years, Capstone Partners has been a trusted advisor to leading middle market companies, offering a fully integrated range of investment banking and financial advisory services uniquely tailored to help owners, investors, and creditors through each stage of the company's lifecycle. Capstone's services include M&A advisory, debt and equity placement, corporate restructuring, special situations, valuation and fairness opinions, and financial advisory services. Headquartered in Boston, the firm has 175+ professionals in multiple offices across the U.S. With 12 dedicated industry groups, Capstone delivers sector-specific expertise through large, cross-functional teams. Capstone is a subsidiary of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ: HBAN). For more information, visit www.capstonepartners.com.
Media Partners
International Animal Health Journal (IAHJ)
Website: https://international-animalhealth.com/
International Animal Health Journal (IAHJ) looks into the entire outsourcing management of the Animal Health Industry. We aim to create a communication platform, which will educate producers on the best practice guidelines and the latest technological advancement surrounding animal medicines, animals in the food chain, animal physiology, animal diseases and treatment options. It is a comprehensive guidebook packed with both practical and scholarly information. Medical, veterinary, technical and professional knowledge, accurate, clear and objective, crucial to keeping animal’s healthy and animal-derived food safe. The journal is dedicated to pharmaceutical professionals, medical device manufacturers and animal feed producers as well as public health officials.
Pet Business World
Website: www.petbusinessworld.co.uk
Pet Business World is the UK’s leading news magazine and website for the pet and aquatics industry. We distribute 7,711 copies (November 2018) to qualifying pet trade professionals – the biggest circulation in the specialist trade by a considerable margin. The independently-owned magazine was established in 1951 and the website (www.petbusinessworld.co.uk) attracted more than 37 million hits in the 12 months to October 2018 – and rising!
PetVet Magazine
Website: https://www.petvetmagazine.com/
For veterinarians and staff alike, PetVet Magazine is sure to inspire and educate, as well as highlight the incredible industry of veterinary medicine and the wonderful people that make up the veterinary community. PetVet Magazine is the only vet–centered publication whose focus is less clinical and more personal!
My Dog is A Robot
Website: https://www.mydogisarobot.com/
My Dog is A Robot is a blog and free weekly newsletter about the pet industry, focusing on startups and pet tech.
Pete the Vet
Website: https://www.petethevet.com/
Dr Pete Wedderburn BVM&S CertVR MRCVS is a qualified veterinarian since 1985. He has worked in his own four-veterinarian companion animal practice in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland since 1991, and he has his own menagerie of dogs, cats, ducks, hens and a few other furry friends! His mission in life is to communicate high-quality information to pet owners, in an entertaining, engaging way. As part of this mission, he is a founder of the innovative pet health information website, www.petfixclub.com, which launched in late 2020.
Petfix Club
Website: https://petfixclub.com/
Petfix Club is a new Irish online subscription-based community of pet lovers, for pet lovers. Our aim is to equip pet owners with everything they need so they can give their pets the best care possible.
Professionally created by a team of trusted experts including, Pete “the vet” Wedderburn, this unique online community gives our members exclusive access to:
- Bespoke, personalised Pet Planner and DIY Triage tools
- Exclusive, on-going discounts from Ireland’s leading pet retailer
- Online access to a vet, including Pete the vet
- Access to 100’s of bespoke, members-only videos and articles and much more
Partner with Us
Based on your objectives, we can create bespoke packages designed specifically for you – from presenting your expertise on the main stage, to hosting a private dinner. You can partner with us showcase your brand and make valuable new connections. Opportunities predominantly lie in 3 main categories: Thought Leadership, Branding & Networking.
To discuss your objectives and partnership opportunities please contact [email protected]
Interested in a media partnership?
We'd love to hear from you and how we can support one another to connect with the industry. Contact [email protected]
Venue
Hilton Boston Back Bay 40 Dalton St, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Hilton Boston Back Bay
40 Dalton St, Boston,
MA 02115, USA
Rate $169+ tax per night
Please book by clicking here
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