株式会社PETOKOTO

株式会社PETOKOTO (PETOKOTO, Inc.) is a Tokyo-based company that describes itself as a "pet wellness company" providing services and information intended to support the whole life of dogs and cats. Its stated corporate business area is internet-related services connected to pets, organised around three products: PETOKOTO FOODS, a fresh dog food line; PETOKOTO MEDIA, a pet life media site; and OMUSUBI (お結び), a matching site for rescue dogs and cats. The company frames these as covering the "meeting" (adoption), "information" and "food" needs of pet owners, with the longer-term goal of building a data-driven concierge platform across pet life. Its mission is expressed as creating a society in which people live together with animals and pets can be loved as family.

PETOKOTO FOODS is positioned under the concept of moving from "feed" to "meals": recipes are developed by veterinarians, using mainly fresh domestic Japanese ingredients, low-temperature cooking and rapid freezing, with no added preservatives, and are offered as complete-nutrition and therapeutic diets for all breeds and ages. At purchase, owners enter their dog's weight, body type and medical conditions so that calorie amounts can be calculated and food delivered on subscription. PETOKOTO MEDIA publishes content written and reviewed by veterinarians, groomers and other specialists — a network the company says has exceeded 100 cumulative experts — spanning health and training knowledge as well as leisure topics such as dog cafés, pet-friendly accommodation, dog runs, cat breed guides and pet disaster-preparedness. OMUSUBI restricts listings to rescue organisations that pass the company's own screening and uses data-based compatibility diagnostics intended to reduce mismatches between adopters and animals.

The company also publishes sustainability and social commitments tied to its products: sourcing Japanese ingredients to cut transport emissions, using produce that would otherwise be discarded for cosmetic reasons, biomass ink packaging and certified shipping boxes, and donating 1% of PETOKOTO FOODS sales twice a year to rescue organisations registered with OMUSUBI, plus free provision of non-saleable or returned packs. Internally it operates a hybrid office/remote working model.

Founding story

Founder and CEO Taisuke Okubo graduated from Doshisha University's Faculty of Economics, played football in the UK during his studies while handling marketing work for UNIQLO U.K., and joined GREE, Inc. in 2012, where he worked on global recruitment marketing, hiring strategy and financial/management accounting. He has said he disliked dogs and cats until an encounter with a toy poodle changed his view; living with the dog led him to conclude that IT-based information and services for pets were thin and undifferentiated despite the wide variety of breeds and lifestyles. Confronted with the problem of euthanasia of unwanted animals and a shortage of trustworthy pet information and products treating pets as family, he founded the company in March 2015. His own dog, Cork, is a former rescue dog he met through the venture.

Business model

PETOKOTO combines a direct-to-consumer subscription food business with owned media and a marketplace-style adoption platform. PETOKOTO FOODS is sold online direct to owners, with data entered at purchase used to calculate calorie needs and drive recurring deliveries; introductory offers (e.g. a four-pack trial) are used to acquire subscribers. The media site monetises a large owner audience and also functions as the acquisition funnel for the food business — the company states PETOKOTO FOODS was developed in response to readers' feedback about pet diets. OMUSUBI serves as a sister service linking rescue organisations with adopters, funded in part by donations of a share of PETOKOTO FOODS revenue.

Recurring revenue from subscription sales of fresh dog food (PETOKOTO FOODS), with an advertising/content-driven pet life media property and a rescue-pet matching service alongside it. One percent of PETOKOTO FOODS sales is donated twice yearly to rescue organisations registered with OMUSUBI.

Traction

PETOKOTO FOODS launched in February 2020 and the company reported growth of 1,000% year-on-year on a monthly basis as of its October 2021 announcement. As of August 2021 it reported 1 million SEO MAU and 160,000 cumulative SNS followers for the media business and 200 registered rescue groups plus 40,000 followers for OMUSUBI. Headcount grew from 17 employees in 2021 to a stated 10 employees including part-timers and interns on the current corporate site (Wantedly lists 15 members). Paid-in capital was JPY 110,986,000 including capital reserve in January 2020, JPY 225.1 million as of end-August 2021, and JPY 30,000,000 as of end-September 2024 per the corporate site.

Latest developments

In April 2026 PETOKOTO announced the joint establishment of the "Pet Guardianship Lab" (ペット後見ラボ) with the NPO Human Animal Coexistence Center, Little Family Small Amount Short Term Insurance and HAL Administrative Scrivener Office, holding a launch presentation, with related coverage broadcast on Fuji TV's FNN Prime Online. In May 2026 PETOKOTO FOODS underwent a large-scale renewal with the addition of a low-fat chicken product. In December 2025 the company began free distribution of a downloadable "PETOKOTO disaster preparedness handbook" for pets, and in January 2026 it promoted crowdfunding campaigns by rescue organisations. A book published by Bunkeido featuring the CEO on entrepreneurship as a career appeared in June 2025.