Jinx expands into PetSmart as it nears $100 million in revenue under new leadership

Banahan is the former chief commercial officer of Hershey-owned Amplify Snacks, which operates the popcorn brand SkinnyPop. New CFO Graeme Fleckney also joined Jinx this month, having held stints at CPG multinationals like Hershey and Beiersdorf. Under this new leadership, this year, Jinx will hit 10,000 retail doors thanks to a national rollout at nearly 1,500 PetSmart locations. “Our strategy is to be physically omnipresent, followed by our DTC and Amazon channels supporting that,” Banahan said.

Growth in a stagnating category

Jinx’s consistent growth comes at a time when the explosive pet category, which saw major growth during the pandemic years, has slowed down.

“From a category perspective, people are still getting dogs and cats,” Banahan said. Over half of U.S. households have some type of animal as a pet. “The category is still really attractive for new entrants and investors wanting to invest against it,” said Banahan. “That said, the dog side of the category is not exploding — it’s relatively flattish.”

Banahan went on to attribute Jinx’s success to a combination of differentiators, including a unique product line, an early bet on Walmart, and amplification from actor and Jinx investor Chris Evans.

The brand has cultivated a voice of talking to millennial pet parents through an entertaining voice, Banahan said, while still maintaining a seriousness to drive trust in the product. As an example, the brand partners with dog-focused content creators on social media ads. Most recently, Jinx worked with dog-focused Pawdcast with Willy & Jax on an ad read.

“The piece that has really driven our business is our innovation,” Banahan said, as the brand has expanded beyond basic kibble. For example, earlier this year, Jinx launched a product it calls dog sauce, which is made with bone broth and can be used as a meal topper to enhance flavor. 

“Calling it a dog sauce and the way we packaged it in an olive oil, squeeze-style bottle resonates with consumers,” Banahan said. “We are trying to change up the monotony of meal times, where it’s the same thing over and over every day.” 

Rockovich said the change in leadership came naturally as the brand scaled nationally in physical retail over the past few years. Rockovich will transition into the role of board chairman.

“Kyle has been doing the job already,” she said, adding that Banahan joined Jinx in October 2022 as president. “He came in and really took over all operations, and everyone has been reporting to him for almost three years.” 

Rockovich said the move also gives her the opportunity to focus on upcoming fundraising efforts, with the company’s goal to raise a Series C round. “It will be our biggest and most important fundraise to date,” she said. She is also dedicating more time to raising a family and advising first-time female founders. 

The funding goal is to help support Jinx’s upcoming physical retail expansion plans. “The motivating factor for the raise is to bring on a partner to help get us from $100 million in retail sales to a $500 million business,” Banahan said.

Diversifying retail partners  

“We consider our real launch into the world to be 2022,” Banahan said, referencing when the brand launched in Walmart after selling primarily DTC only.

One area where the company is playing catch-up, Banahan said, is scaling and managing bigger inventory volume.

Banahan said PetSmart will be Jinx’s first official play into brick-and-mortar retail at pet stores. During the pandemic, Jinx tested a digital partnership with Petco. The rollout of 19 Jinx SKUs will begin in the coming weeks and will be available in nearly 1,500 PetSmart doors. It follows the brand’s recent launch in HEB this past April and Publix in late 2024.

For the PetSmart launch, Banahan said that both Jinx and the retailer agreed to have a major national rollout with enough marketing support behind it. “That includes internal events with store associates, in-store events and digital marketing,” Banahan said.

Jinx is also looking beyond traditional pet specialty stores for retail launches. Last December, for example, Jinx launched in Tractor Supply and is now available in 50% of its locations.

“They have a really big footprint with a unique, heavy pet consumer,” Banahan explained. “Tractor Supply overindexes, from a dollar perspective, in pet.” This customer base also skews more suburban and rural.

When it comes to marketing, Rockovich credited Jinx’s relationship with Evans as an advantage. Evans, along with his dog Dodger, is Jinx’s official celebrity ambassador and often helps test new products. “His support helps as a big megaphone when we’re launching a new product or at a new retailer,” Rockovich said.

Mike Duda, managing partner at investment firm Bullish, said the firm is “still bullish on the pet category, despite not having any active investments in it currently.” Bullish previously backed fresh food brand Nom Nom Now, which was acquired by Mars Petcare in 2022.

“Pets are now members of the family, and people will skimp on themselves before they’ll skimp on their babies or their pets,” Duda explained. He said that this shift in behavior, alongside the clean label innovation that startups are bringing to the category, is what keeps investors interested in pet even as venture capital remains hard to come by. A lot of pet food and wellness products also have high retention, thanks to subscription and delivery services like Chewy and Amazon, Duda added. “A lot of pet parents tend to stick with the same product for a while,” he said, due to diet and health needs.

While there is some saturation in the pet space, Duda expects M&A and rollup activity to pick up in the coming year.

Banahan said that while Jinx began with a strong DTC presence, landing in major retailers is key to reaching a diverse set of customers.

“When a retailer sees what you’re doing in one retailer, they assume you’ll be able to do it in another one,” Banahan said. “We have proven that model out. That gives us a lot of confidence when we go to sell our business.”