1H 2021 Deal Hound – Pet M&A Report

Pet ownership and related expenditures across the United States continued to boom during the COVID-19 pandemic. That should foretell opportunities across the pet services sector. Pet ownership last year was up 3%, meaning 70% of American households have some kind of pet, an all-time high. Spending on pet food was up 11% in 2020. We continue to see an effect we call the “humanization” of pets, owners who increasingly see pets as family members worthy of human-grade food ingredients, along with the desire to provide nutritious, healthy food that is produced sustainably. For the sector, those trends are encouraging. Even more intriguing is we’re seeing these trends spread globally. In China – which represents 18% of the world’s population at 1.4 billion – we’ve seen pet ownership grow at a compound rate of nearly 33% from 2015 to 2020 with an anticipated growth of 14% over the next three years. Pet service spending in China is estimated to eclipse $67 billion a year by 2023. While pet ownership and spending in the U.S. builds, it’s no longer only a U.S. market. Think bigger. We continue to watch the drivers behind pet ownership trends, the humanization of pets, and the growing global market. Additionally, we’re watching the pandemic-related spike in pet product e-commerce and pet telehealth visits…