SINGAPORE, Feb. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — AlgoGroup, a tech-enabled pet brand platform, secures USD 1 million seed round of funding. The round was co-led by FoundFast and Primest Capital, with investment from notable angels including Thomas Hill (previously Founder of Clicksit before exit to Sorted).
The company plans to use the funds for international growth, creating Go-to-Market Programs for Pet Brands in Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Kingdom markets. Each program will provide emerging pet brand owners with direct customer insights and improved marketing efficiency, driven by Algo+, a proprietary trading platform designed to ease access to pet-specific sales channels.
Algo was founded in 2023 by Chris Fung, a Sydney University alumnus in Hong Kong, supported by founding team members joining from Klook, Meta and Una Brands, to address a growing market for emerging pet brands that had difficulty penetrating an increasingly specialized distribution landscape.
“The Algo story began when we noticed a surge in new pet brands founded by entrepreneurs who were pet enthusiasts. These brand owners were underserved by traditional distributors, and lacked resources operating e-commerce marketplaces to scale their brands internationally,” said Fung.
Despite a $270bn pet product market growing at 9.3% CAGR in the Asia-Pacific region, leaders in the pet product space report double digit declines in market share. At the same time, methods of distribution, especially in e-commerce, increasingly require specialized skills. Algo aims to address the pain points of emerging brand owners by providing market intelligence, efficient access, to exit or co-ownership opportunities.
“Algo’s vision is to use e-commerce data & technology to more efficiently create brands and products in tune with what customers want, starting with the pet sector. This capital raise allows us to better reach out to pet brand entrepreneurs to join our family of brands,” said Fung. “At the same time, we are excited to partner with investors including FoundFast and Primest Capital to drive our vision forward”.
“Algo offers a compelling new vision for how to create a house of consumer brands through technology, with strong ties to Hong Kong“, said Christian Oei, partner at FoundFast, a Hong Kong based startup platform. “As champions of Hong Kong entrepreneurial talent, we’re proud to call AlgoGroup our first portfolio company.”
“We are impressed by the vision of the founding team of Algo, and their determination to effect disruption in the pet sector,” said Gunnar Mansfeld, Chairman of Primest Capital, an asset management and investment advisory business with strong ties to Sweden. “We look forward to working closely with Algo’s management team to enter the European market”.
About AlgoGroup
AlgoGroup’s vision is to become Asia’s leading tech-enabled pet brand platform, specialising in the organic growth, management and selective acquisition of pet care, food and related brands. Algo adopts a proprietary process that quickly identifies, validates and then integrates emerging brands into its house brand portfolio using e-commerce and technology. For more information, see: AlgoGroup.io.
About the Investors
FoundFast is a startup platform allowing potential founders to quickly validate and iterate on ideas, receive coaching, and access investment opportunities. FoundFast runs a monthly ideation stage competition with no-strings-attached cash prizes, as well as other community events. For more information, see: FoundFast.io.
Primest Capital is a HK based asset management and investment advisory business with offices in Sweden and Australia. Primest invests in sectors from Manufacturing and Engineering, Commodities and Natural Resources, Seafood and Fisheries, Food, Pharma, Retail, and FMCG. For more information, see: http://bit.ly/48qYX2v.
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SOURCE AlgoGroup
