Dragons’ Den Startup Omni Fetches $14.5M in Funding for Vegan Dog Food
British vegan pet food maker Omni has raised £11M ($14.5M) in Series A funding to expand its footprint and explore the US market, as well as launch an Ozempic-style product for dogs.
A year after finding success on Dragons’ Den, London-based startup Omni has closed an £11M ($14.5M) Series A funding round for its plant-based dog food portfolio.
The investment was led by IW Capital and Redrice Ventures, alongside participation from RootBridge Capital, Digitalis Ventures, Lever VC, and other investors.
The round also saw entrepreneur Deborah Meaden increase her stake in the startup, following her initial investment with Steven Bartlett on Dragons’ Den in 2025.
Omni will use the funds to expand its reach across the UK, including into major British retailers, as well as test the waters in the US market. Moreover, the capital will help it develop an Ozempic-style weight-loss supplement for dogs, which it first announced last year as LeanPaws.
Omni’s Series A round follows a dramatic rise in dog food sales
Founded in 2020 by Guy Sandelowsky and Shiv Sivakumar, Omni makes a range of vet-formulated foods and supplements for dogs. These include No-Beef Bites, No-Chick Chunks Pot Pie, Pumpkin and Lentil Hot-Pot, a line of dry foods for dogs across all ages, and Training Treats for physical and mental health.
Omni also sells dental sticks, a wide variety of supplements (from skin and breath to multivitamins, pre- and probiotics), shampoos, and calming diffusers. Its products are catered to pets with sensitivities, allergies, anxiety, and gut issues, among others.
The company has seen sales shoot up over the last year amid a wider boom in the low-carbon pet food sector in Europe. After securing a £75,000 investment on Dragons’ Den, its sales rose by 130% with 20,000 new customers in the ensuing three months.
In a LinkedIn post, Sivakumar noted that over the last 12 months, Omni had expanded its revenue 10-fold, helped more than 300,000 dogs live healthier lives, expanded its product range, kickstarted clinical research showcasing meaningful health outcomes, and welcomed new talent to its team.
“We’re at a pivotal stage in the business. We’ve grown from £1M in annualised sales to close to £13M,” Sivakumar told the Sunday Times, which first reported the news.
“That progress is exactly why I chose to double down and reinvest,” noted Meaden. The Series A raise she participated in is thought to have valued Omni at around £30M ($39.7M).
“The biggest lesson from the process is that fundraising isn’t about finding investors. It’s about finding the right investors,” Sandelowsky said in a LinkedIn post. “Over the years, I’ve heard countless founders say that, and if I’m being fully honest, I never fully appreciated it until now.
“The right partners can accelerate your mission. The wrong partners can distract from it. That’s why this milestone feels so meaningful. Not because of the number itself, but because of who is joining us for the next chapter,” he added.
Omni to launch Ozempic-like supplement for dogs
Sandelowsky stated that the funds will help Omni help more dogs through allergen-free novel proteins, a notable focal point given that an estimated 1-8% of British canines suffer from some kind of allergy.
The investment will also enable Omni to keep investing in the science and research that validates its product development, “open the gates” to large supermarkets in the UK, explore overseas markets like the US, and expand its team.
The startup has previously teased a 2026 launch for LeanPaws, which contains fibres and resistant starches that mirror GLP-1 effects, as well as prebiotics and probiotics for optimal fat metabolism.
Today, 46% of dogs in the UK are overweight, raising the risk of arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. A placebo-controlled trial by Omni found that 77% of overweight dogs who took LeanPaws shed some pounds with virtually no side effects. Moreover, 63% saw reductions in clinically assessed body fat composition, and 42% expressed fewer begging behaviours (in other words, they felt more satiated).
Omni’s funding success is also reflective of an environmental reality. The production of the ingredients used in British dog food contributes around 1% of the country’s overall greenhouse gas emissions. Vegan pet food, though, is deemed the most effective measure to tackle the climate footprint of dogs and cats, even when accounting for the fact that most conventional pet food uses animal byproducts.
Omni’s novel protein recipes, derived from yeast, algae and pulses, generate 73% fewer emissions than standard meat-based dog food. Its long-standing customers have collectively helped avoid over 8.5 million kgs of CO2e over the years.
Its Series A round comes weeks after fellow UK firm Meatly secured £10.4M ($13.7M today) to build Europe’s largest cultivated meat facility, a year after it launched the world’s first cultivated protein product for pets in London.
Elsewhere, Friends & Family Pet Food launched eight cultivated meat products in Singapore, BeneMeat partnered with Forza10 to unveil dog food blending its cultured hamster meat with plant-based ingredients in Europe, Enifer and Rovio Pet Foods rolled out a dog treat made with the former’s Pekilo mycoprotein ingredient, and MicroHarvest announced the launch of 15 mycelium pet food products.