AI-Powered Pet Foods Brand Plans for New Midwest Processing Plant

Feb. 29, 2024

A $2 million seed funding round will be put toward opening a second manufacturing facility, further product development and marketing of plant-based pet foods.

Andy Hanacek

PawCo Foods, a plant-based pet foods brand using artificial intelligence (AI) on the product development side, will open a second production facility in the Midwest to scale up operations beyond its current processing plant in California, after receiving a $2 million seed funding round.

The brand will also invest in research and development, new recipes and marketing tactics to drive awareness for plant-based pet foods. PawCo is the first plant-based dog food company to use AI for nutrition optimization and palatability improvement, according to the release announcing the funding round.

PawCo created its GreenMeat base, the first fresh plant-based meat for dogs that is used as the base for all products and recipes. Its portfolio includes InstaBites, LuxBites and GreenBites product lines.

The funding round was led by Elevate Ventures and other angel investors such as Arash Ferdowsi, co-founder of Dropbox.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.