Life-Space co-founder chases $20m for pet-tech start-up

afr.com:

Craig Silbery is turning to man’s best friend for his next venture. The entrepreneur made his money selling probiotic manufacturer Life-Space group to Chinese health supplements giant By-Health for $700 million in 2018, pocketing about $140 million in the process.

Pet-tech startup Ilume is putting your dog on a diet. 

Now, he is on the move with Ilume, a pet-tech start-up tracking system delivering food and health insights to gain a bite of America’s $27.6 billion online pet food and pet supply sales industry.

Street Talk understands Ilume is trying to rustle up between $10 million to $20 million from investors, kicking off a beauty parade at the Sydney Dog Lovers festival later this month. To date, research and product development has been founder-led, with Silbery putting in about $7 million of his own money. Overseas investors are the primary targets as the company targets US commercialisation.

The company’s vision is to create a Fitbit-style product that will monitor an animal’s activity – walking, sleeping, barking etc – and use that data to issue the owner with health and food recommendations to maintain a healthy weight. Former Boost Juice chief technology innovation officer Christian McGilloway has been brought in as Ilume’s CTO.

Its closest competitor, Whistle, was valued at upwards of $US100 million upon being acquired by Mars Petcare in 2016. On the home front, investors have been positive about names such as pet food start-up Lyka and pet food manufacturer The Real Pet Food Company.

Ilume has hired boutique corporate advisory Edison Partners to advise on commercialisation and start the capital raising process by the end of the year. Edison was also on call for the Life-Space acquisition.