Smylo Eyes ₹30 Cr to Take Its Cat Food Brand to More Homes

Gurugram-based D2C cat food startup Smylo is in advanced talks to raise around ₹30 Cr (~$3.2 Mn), sources told Inc42, in a round structured as a mix of equity and debt.

The deal would bring a new VC firm onto Smylo’s cap table, while existing backer DSG Consumer Partners is also considering putting in more money. Equity is expected to make up the larger share of the round, with debt likely earmarked for harder costs.

What makes this one interesting isn’t the round size it’s the category. Cat food is still a tiny, underserved corner of India’s pet care market, and Smylo is barely 18 months old.

The Details

• Amount in talks ₹30 Cr (~$3.2 Mn)
• Structure Mix of equity and debt, equity forming the larger share
• New investor A new VC firm reportedly joining the cap table
• Existing investor considering follow-on DSG Consumer Partners
• Founded 2024, by Abhishek Agrawal and Kartikeya Gupta (both ex-Titan Capital)
• Last disclosed run-rate ₹50-55 Lakh/month (as of February 2026)
• Implied scale of the ask At that run-rate, ₹30 Cr is roughly 4.5-5x Smylo’s annualized revenue a sizeable bet on where the company is headed, not just where it is today

From Investing in Startups to Building One

Smylo’s founders didn’t come from the pet industry they came from Titan Capital, one of India’s most active early-stage VC firms. That background shows up in how fast the company has moved.

In under two years, Smylo built a full product range: wet food, dry food and broths for kittens and adult cats, positioned as preservative-free and made from fresh meat.

As of its last disclosed numbers, roughly 80% of sales came through its own website and ecommerce channels, with the rest via quick commerce a mix that’s typical for an early D2C brand still building distribution depth.

Capital Earmarked for a Factory, Not Just Marketing

The fresh funds are earmarked for new product launches, R&D, and setting up Smylo’s own manufacturing facility. That last part matters more than it sounds.

Most D2C pet food brands at this stage still rely on contract manufacturers it keeps capital needs low but caps margin and control over quality. Moving to in-house manufacturing is a capital-heavy, higher-conviction bet.

It’s also likely why debt is part of this round: manufacturing capex is exactly the kind of asset-backed spend lenders are comfortable financing, while equity typically funds the riskier growth spend R&D and new launches.

A Category Investors Are Just Discovering

Smylo isn’t raising in isolation. D2C pet food brand Lickicious raised ₹19 Cr in September, led by Prath Ventures, for a nearly identical playbook manufacturing, R&D, and portfolio expansion.

That’s two meaningful raises in the pet food space within weeks of each other, suggesting investors are starting to treat India’s pet care market as a real category, not a niche experiment.

What the Math Is Really Saying

Raising 4.5-5x your current annualized revenue is either a sign of real investor conviction in the founders’ trajectory, or a bet that the category grows faster than the company’s current numbers suggest and right now, it’s hard to tell which.

Cat-specific nutrition is still a sliver of India’s dog-dominated pet food market, which means Smylo isn’t really competing for share today it’s betting the category itself expands fast enough to justify the capital before competitors (or larger pet food players) notice the gap.

The Bottom Line

Watch whether Smylo’s new manufacturing facility actually lowers costs enough to defend margins once bigger, better-funded pet food players start paying attention to cats too.