Capstone Partners advised Wholesome Pride, a Missouri-based producer of all-natural, limited ingredient pet treats, on its sale to Outward Hound, an award-winning innovator, creator, manufacturer, and distributor of the highest quality toys, games, gear, and feeders for dogs and cats.
Wholesome Pride, founded in 2013, provides all-natural, healthy treats for pets. Its product line includes treats made from bananas, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, blueberries, honey, and peanut butter. The additive- free, preservative-free, and grain-free treats provide a great vegetarian alternative for pets with food allergies or sensitive stomachs.
I am looking forward to working with the team at Outward Hound to grow the Wholesome Pride brand. I am grateful to Capstone’s for helping me navigate the transaction process. Despite being warned, the process was far more complicated than I imagined.
Headquartered in Centennial, Colorado, Outward Hound is a portfolio company of J.W. Childs Associates that designs and develops toys, travel gear, games, and puzzle toys for dogs. The acquisition marks Outward Hound’s fifth strategic acquisition, the first after the transfer of ownership to J.W. Childs Associates from The Riverside Company in December 2017. Wholesome Pride is Outward Hound’s initial entry into the treat space, adding to its already impressive portfolio of pet toys that includes notable brands such as Petstages, Dublin Dog, Bionic, and Nina Ottosson.
According to Capstone Partners Managing Director, Tom Elliott, “Managing the negotiations between a young entrepreneurial seller and a large established private equity buyer was a lot of fun. They had a shared mutual objective of growing the Wholesome Pride brand. Our job was to align the pieces to ensure both the buyer and the seller were focused on that objective.”
