Company of Animals CEO signs PupPod licensing agreement and leads PupPod investment round

Hood River, OR and Surrey, England, Feb. 23, 2022 -- PupPod and Company of Animals have signed a strategic licensing agreement to scale sales of PupPod’s flagship product, the PupPod Rocker & Feeder. The initial purchase commitment grows PupPod sales by 500% and expands distribution beyond the United States to the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. PupPod will focus on evolving their PupCloud software platform for multispecies gaming and bringing new products to market.

Dr. Roger Mugford, Company of Animals CEO said, “Pets are the beneficiaries of new technology designed to reduce boredom but also improve behavior and fitness through activity and mental stimulation. Millennials and Gen Z consumers, currently over 57% of pet parents, are looking for technology solutions to be better pet parents whether they are at home or away.”

The PupPod Rocker game uses lights, sounds, and timing to create a mental stimulation puzzle. When dogs interact with the PupPod Rocker toy at the correct time, they earn food rewards from a wirelessly connected feeder. Pet parents can stream video and control the game from anywhere using PupPod’s mobile app.

In addition to the licensing agreement, Dr. Mugford leads PupPod’s series SEED investment round, making his third investment in the company.

“The partnership is a natural fit”, said Erick Eidus, PupPod’s CEO. “Dr. Mugford has been a strategic advisor and investor for several years. It made perfect sense to plug into the sales and distribution capabilities he’s built over 40+ years in the pet industry.”

Over the last 14 months, PupPod’s community has played over 96,000 game sessions dispensing over 3.4M rewards. Seventy percent of connected units played PupPod in the last 30-days for approximately 28 min / day on average.

Mr. Eidus continued, “PupPod was founded on the belief that software will enable a new category of pet products with better user experiences for both pets and people. The product usage and cognition data we’re seeing confirms the accuracy of our vision, but it’s the heart-warming customer stories that motivate us to keep innovating.”

About PupPod: We believe that dogs are highly intelligent beings that would rather use their mind than chew pieces of plastic or plush toys. We also believe that pet parents want to provide their fur-kids with better products, so we set out to combine software with pet products that encourage mental stimulation and problem solving. This simple idea has evolved into a new product category of multispecies gaming for pets and people at the intersection of the pet, smart home, and online game industries.

About Company of Animals: Created as a hub for activity, innovation and research in animal behaviour, Company of Animals was founded by Dr Roger Mugford in 1979. Developing products centred around resolving behavioural and training problems in pets, animal welfare drives all that Company of Animals do. Dr Mugford has obtained multiple qualifications, studying animal behaviour and psychology and is the author of three books “Dr. Mugford’s Casebook” (Hutchinson 1991); “Dog Training the Mugford Way” (Hutchinson 1992); and his latest “The Perfect Dog” was published in 2013 by Hamlyn in both North America and the UK.

Contact information: For further photography, information, product images or interviews with Dr Mugford or Erick Eidus, please contact Annelie Ryan: aryan@wearecoa.com