Mars to Buy Pet-Food Brand Nom Nom in $1 Billion Deal

(Bloomberg) -- Consumer products giant Mars Inc. has agreed to acquire direct-to-consumer pet-food brand Nom Nom in a push to snap up pet-related assets.

The Nashville, Tennessee-based Nom Nom will be an autonomous brand within Mars’s Royal Canin division, a representative for Mars said in a statement Friday. Mars declined to comment on the price.

“Nom Nom is a science-forward technology company improving the lives of pets through fresh food for cats and dogs,” the representative said in a statement. “We are confident that this acquisition will bring synergies to keep supporting their success in the fresh category while complementing our existing portfolio.”

Consumer products producers have been tapping into the growing pet market as pet ownership boomed during the pandemic and millennials and Generation Z spend more on pets. Shares of Chewy Inc., despite declines in the past year, have still more than doubled from the online pet-supply retailer’s $1.02 billion initial public offering in 2019. 

Last year, Mars bought direct-to-consumer cat litter company PrettyLitter Inc. in a deal worth less than $1 billion, Bloomberg News reported. In 2020, it acquired Veterinary Specialty Hospital of Hong Kong Ltd., an emergency health-services provider for animals. 

Nom Nom sells through its website fresh, whole-ingredient pet foods approved by pet nutritionists. It also sells treats and supplements for pets, its website showed. 

Nom Nom counts Anchor Capital, Coefficient Capital and Greycroft among its backers, according to data provider Crunchbase data.

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