Drizzle on top: New premium dog food brands now available at 1%.

Pet food aisles are busier than ever, which is exactly why Hilary Coles says she was skeptical when she got the call from Atomic Labs.

“I had the same reaction as you,” Coles told me by phone Monday afternoon, the day before her new company, Golden Child, opened for business. “That’s certainly not what people need.”

Coles co-founded Hims & Hers with Andrew Dadham, Jack Abraham and Joe Spector in 2016, where she spent seven years overseeing the brand, physical products and consumer strategy, before taking a year and a half off to have a child. She describes herself as a “consumer-first” person who ended up in the healthcare world by chance. As she says, dog food is “not on the bingo card.”

The pitch that appealed to her wasn’t specifically rooted in dog food, but in methodology. Atomic, the startup studio founded by Abraham, is conducting what it calls a “painted door test.” This is a lightweight experiment aimed at finding out what consumers actually do, not just what they say they want. When Atomic conducted these tests in the pet food space, the interest was clear. The team then looked at 11,000 reviews of existing fresh dog food products and found recurring complaints, including food that was inconvenient, made dogs sick, and was a pain to prepare and serve. “We started peeling the onion,” Coles said.

She and co-founder Quentin Racornelli claim that what they’ve discovered is an industry that hasn’t seen innovation in nearly 12 years — a claim that lends credibility given how crowded the luxury and human-grade segments are — but they say it’s coupled with 11,000 customer reviews that show persistent dissatisfaction with existing fresh food options, even as dogs’ expectations have changed dramatically with humans feeding them.

Lacornerie, who was part of Hims & Hers’ founding team and spent years spearheading its personalized growth strategy, says there are many similarities to the company’s early days. “Wellness has surpassed Big Pharma by four times in market capitalization,” he noted. Pet parents who take collagen for joint health, read ingredient labels, and track their own nutrition increasingly want the same rigor applied to what they put in their dog’s bowl.

Golden Child is now launching two “5-star” products that will be sold directly to consumers. One is a fresh frozen meal system and the other, more interestingly, is a “drizzle.” This is a shelf-stable liquid topper that you can add to what your dog is already eating, whether it’s Golden Child’s own food, kibble, or anything else. Drizzle retails for $19.95 per bottle. The Meal System starts at $3 per day and is primarily sold by subscription, but starter boxes are also available for those who want a casual relationship.

Drizzle is a more novel idea and probably has a higher profit margin. I asked Kohl’s if the company had considered focusing solely on that product. “Like all entrepreneurs, we have many opportunities to build the world,” she answered. “This is only the first inning.”

The food itself is made at multiple manufacturing facilities in the U.S. using a human-grade supply chain, but LaCornerie said it’s harder to establish than one might think. The recipe was developed by a PhD in animal nutrition. Megan Sparkle is one of only about 80 certified veterinary nutritionists in the country. And (unsurprisingly) he’s a classically trained chef, with professional ties to Ina Garten and Guy Fieri, Racornelli says.

The company has also developed what it calls a “protein block.” Coles says this is a way to provide chicken and beef with an enhanced amino acid profile that standard cuts of meat alone cannot provide.

Golden Child has come out of stealth today, announcing $37 million in seed funding and a Series A led by Redpoint Ventures, with participation from Atomic and A-Star. That’s a meaningful amount for a company selling dog food, but Racornelli says it takes real experts, not just dialed-in, to get it right. In fact, of the company’s 12 employees, all nutritionists and chefs are staff members, not advisors.

Brand names vary widely depending on the design. When I asked if Golden Child might eventually receive shampoo, travel supplies, and even some form of veterinary care, Coles didn’t rule it out. “Pet parents have a lot of interest and excitement about involving their dogs in all aspects of their lives,” she says. The ultimate goal is to position ourselves as a household brand, not just a food company.

Atomic has had notable successes along with some stumbles. Hims & Hers is now 10 years old and a publicly traded company with a market capitalization of approximately $7 billion. OpenStore, the e-commerce conglomerate co-founded by Abraham and venture investor Keith Lavoie in 2021, tells a different story. It recently closed after years of splashy press and more than $150 million in venture funding.