Pet adoption soared during the pandemic, increasing 34% year over year. As the world returns to semi-normalcy, many of these new pet owners will be spending less time at home. As a result, the 63.4M households that have dogs in the US will need to sequester their furry loved ones. Diggs is a pet products company that offers a signature, modern dog crate, Revol, with dog comfort in mind. Revol, which starts at $245, is a collapsible dog crate that making it easy to store and travel with. The designed-focused company also offers crate training accessories and memory foam crate beds. Diggs grew revenue 400% in 2020.
AlleyWatch caught up with CEO and Founder Zel Crampton to learn more about the inspiration for the business, the company’s strategic plans for new products, recent round of funding, and much, much more.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Diggs closed a $13 million Series A investment round led by Venn Growth Partners with backing by Strand Equity.
Tell us about the product or service that Diggs offers.
Diggs creates thoughtful product design and innovation with the mission to bring safety, happiness, and health to pets and their owners. Best known for our Revol Dog Crate, all of our products are engineered for pets of all sizes, taking cues from baby product standards and interior design trends.
What inspired the start of Diggs?
I founded Diggs after experiencing personal frustration with poorly made pet products after adopting my dog, Louise, in 2016. Every toy, crate, and accessory I found lacked the quality, thoughtfulness, and ingenuity I knew Louise deserved and needed. With that, I set out to elevate safety standards, innovation, and design in the pet industry.
How is Diggs different?
Diggs uses qualitative research to solve real problems for pet and their parents. We create differentiated and innovative products that raise the bar for safety, functionality and aesthetics. Diggs is also building a community of pet parents and pet professionals to help educate about training and pet safety.
What market does Diggs target and how big is it?
We target the Pet supplies market which was estimated to be ~$20bn in the U.S. in 2020 by the APPA (American Pet Products Association). We aim to be a global market leader with a much larger addressable market.
What’s your business model?
I started the brand as an exclusive D2C business model and since we have expanded into 3rd party e-commerce (Amazon, Chewy, etc.) and brick and mortar. Our core business model will always stay true to our e-commerce success but look forward to expansion in the future.
How has COVID-19 impacted the business??
It was no surprise that the pet industry boomed in the pandemic – exceeding $100 billion for the first time ever as a result of more people welcoming pets into their families. Diggs was a major category leader during this time with 400% growth increase in 2020 and continued success into 2021 with the closing of the $13M Series A investment. The pandemic led to increased rates of pet adoption and e-commerce penetration, both of which help to accelerate our sales.
What was the funding process like?
It was a lengthy process but one that I enjoyed. Both of the investors in our Series A were relationships that I had cultivated for many years so when it came time to invest, they could move pretty quickly.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Ultimately our business is hard to fit into a box – we are not a typical tech company, DTC company, or even consumer/CPG company. Our vision is to create a very large and significant pet brand so we had to find the rights investors that both invest in our type of business as well as share our vision for the future of the company.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
The investors got excited about the following: (1) large addressable and growing market with tons of whitespace, (2) proven track record in delivering unique and innovative products to market, (3) highly competent management team, (4) attractive unit economics, and (5) marketing tactics that are resonating and driving cost acquisition costs.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Our plan is to launch many new products to the market, including our large Revol dog crate which has a waiting list of over 25,000 people. In addition, we will be focused on scaling our marketing and supply chain functions. We are actively recruiting talent for new positions across all business functions.
Our plan is to launch many new products to the market, including our large Revol dog crate which has a waiting list of over 25,000 people. In addition, we will be focused on scaling our marketing and supply chain functions. We are actively recruiting talent for new positions across all business functions.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
If cash is your limiting factor, then try to be scrappy and find ways to fund the business in the short term until you reach sufficient scale and are able to take on a sizable investment. Depending on your industry, these scrappy tactics can include family and friends investments (through SAFEs or Convertible Notes), taking on new debt products (e.g., Clearbanc, Shopify Capital, Gourmet Growth, etc.) and improving your working capital position (e.g., improved payment terms).
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Our plan is to launch many new products to the market, including our large Revol dog crate which has a waiting list of over 25,000 people. In addition, we will be focused on scaling our marketing and supply chain functions. We are actively recruiting talent for new positions across all business functions.
