If you have a dog in America right now, chances are you have seen The Farmer’s Dog advertised — on Instagram, during the Super Bowl, or in a tearjerker video that made you immediately question what you have been feeding your pet. It is one of the fastest-growing pet food brands in the country, delivering freshly made, human-grade dog food directly to your front door. But who actually owns it — and how did it go from a sick puppy named Jada to a $4.2 billion company in just over a decade?
What Is The Farmer’s Dog?
The Farmer’s Dog is a New York City-based direct-to-consumer pet food company that delivers freshly cooked, human-grade dog food on a subscription basis. Founded in 2014, the company creates personalized meal plans for dogs based on their breed, age, weight, and health goals — then ships the food in pre-portioned, refrigerated packs directly to the customer’s home.
As of March 2025, The Farmer’s Dog had delivered over 1 billion meals to dogs across the United States. By July 2025, it was delivering millions of meals every single month, with estimated annualized net revenue of $1.2 billion for 2024 — a staggering 50% increase year-over-year from $800 million in 2023.
Who Owns The Farmer’s Dog in 2026?
The Farmer’s Dog is a privately held company, co-founded and co-owned by Jonathan Regev and Brett Podolsky. Jonathan Regev serves as Co-Founder and CEO, leading the company’s strategy and operations. Brett Podolsky is the Co-Founder who originally inspired the entire business — through his own dog. The company has raised a total of $268 million across 6 funding rounds, with a current valuation of approximately $4.2 billion as of 2026. There is no single corporate parent that owns the company — it remains a founder-led, venture-backed private business with multiple institutional investors holding minority stakes.
Ownership and Key Stakeholders Table
| Owner / Party | Role | Stake | Key Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Regev | Co-Founder & CEO | Majority co-owner (undisclosed %) | Leads company strategy; Harvard BA, Stanford MBA background |
| Brett Podolsky | Co-Founder | Co-owner (undisclosed %) | Inspiration behind the company; his dog Jada sparked the idea in 2014 |
| Insight Partners | Lead Investor | Significant minority stake | Led the $39M Series B in January 2019 |
| Forerunner Ventures | Early Investor | Significant minority stake | Invested from the Seed round in May 2016 |
| Shasta Ventures | Early Investor | Significant minority stake | Led the $8M Series A round |
| CAVU Consumer Partners | Institutional Investor | Minority stake | Consumer-focused VC; participated in later rounds |
| G Squared | Institutional Investor | Minority stake | Growth equity investor; participated in later funding |
| Access Capital (Dallas) | Institutional Investor | Minority stake | One of 17 total investors in the company |
| SV Angel | Early Investor | Minority stake | Invested in the 2016 Seed round alongside Forerunner |
| Public Shareholders | N/A | None | The Farmer’s Dog is not publicly traded |
The Origin Story: One Sick Dog Named Jada
The Farmer’s Dog was founded in 2014, and like the best business stories, it started with a personal problem that had no good solution.
Brett Podolsky’s dog Jada was the most beautiful puppy — but she suffered from severe digestive issues for the first two years of her life. Brett tried every commercially available dog food on the market. Nothing helped. Then a vet suggested something radical: try home cooking. Brett prepared simple, fresh ingredients — the same things pictured on a bag of traditional dog food — but what he made actually looked, smelled, and tasted like real food. Seemingly overnight, Jada’s problems disappeared.
That experience sparked a question: if fresh, real food transformed Jada’s health, why was no one making it convenient and affordable for every dog owner? Brett brought the idea to his friend Jonathan Regev, and together they set out to build the answer. They worked with top veterinary nutritionists to create recipes that were not just fresh and appetizing, but nutritionally complete and balanced for dogs. The standard they set for themselves was unusually high — food safe enough for humans to eat, but formulated specifically for dogs.
How The Farmer’s Dog Raised $268 Million
The Farmer’s Dog has gone through six funding rounds since its founding, building one of the most impressive financing trajectories in the direct-to-consumer food space.
The first Seed round was raised in May 2016, backed by Forerunner Ventures and SV Angel — two respected early-stage investors with strong track records in consumer brands. The company then raised an $8 million Series A led by Shasta Ventures in 2017, validating the core model of subscription-based fresh dog food delivery.
The game-changing round came in January 2019, when The Farmer’s Dog closed a $39 million Series B led by Insight Partners — at the time, the largest Series B ever raised by a pet food startup. The deal valued the company at $209 million and gave it the fuel to scale nationally. Additional rounds followed, including a Series C in late 2019 and subsequent rounds that pushed total funding to $268 million and the current valuation to $4.2 billion.
The Super Bowl Moment That Defined the Brand
In 2023, The Farmer’s Dog ran a Super Bowl advertisement — one of the most expensive and competitive advertising slots in American media. The ad showed the life of a dog named Bear alongside its owner, from puppyhood through old age, set to a simple, emotional soundtrack. It became one of the most talked-about commercials of the year — going viral online, generating millions of views, and winning advertising industry awards.
For a company that had grown almost entirely through digital marketing and word-of-mouth, the Super Bowl ad marked a turning point. It announced to the entire country that The Farmer’s Dog was no longer just a niche subscription service for health-conscious pet owners — it was a mainstream American brand. The emotional tone of the ad also perfectly captured the company’s core message: your dog deserves real food, because the time you have with them is precious.
The Woof Acquisition: August 2026
On August 6, 2026, The Farmer’s Dog announced the acquisition of Woof — a move that signals the company is actively expanding beyond its core subscription dog food model. The deal marks The Farmer’s Dog’s first publicly confirmed acquisition and reflects the broader ambitions of CEO Jonathan Regev to build a more comprehensive platform for dog health and wellness, not just food delivery.
What Makes The Farmer’s Dog Different?
The Farmer’s Dog operates in a growing market category called fresh pet food — a segment that is rapidly taking share from traditional dry kibble and canned food. The company’s core competitive advantage is its vertical integration: it controls everything from recipe formulation and cooking to packaging, delivery logistics, and customer subscription management.
Every meal is made in USDA-regulated facilities using the same safety and quality standards applied to human food. The company does not use preservatives, fillers, or artificial ingredients. Portion sizes are calculated based on each dog’s individual profile, and the meals are shipped frozen to preserve freshness. This level of personalization and quality control is something that no traditional pet food company operating at mass-market scale can easily replicate.
More Ownership Stories
Interested in other ownership stories? Check out who owns Wrigley Field.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. Who owns The Farmer’s Dog in 2026?
The Farmer’s Dog is privately co-owned by Co-Founders Jonathan Regev (CEO) and Brett Podolsky, with minority stakes held by institutional investors including Insight Partners and Forerunner Ventures.
Q2. When was The Farmer’s Dog founded?
The Farmer’s Dog was founded in 2014 by Jonathan Regev and Brett Podolsky, inspired by Brett’s dog Jada who recovered from digestive issues after switching to fresh home-cooked food.
Q3. Is The Farmer’s Dog publicly traded?
No. The Farmer’s Dog is a 100% private company with no stock exchange listing, though its shares trade on private secondary markets at an implied valuation of approximately $4.2 billion.
Q4. How much has The Farmer’s Dog raised in funding?
The Farmer’s Dog has raised a total of $268 million across 6 funding rounds, with its latest being a Series E round.
Q5. What is The Farmer’s Dog valuation in 2026?
The Farmer’s Dog carries a current valuation of approximately $4.2 billion, based on its most recent funding round and private secondary market transactions as of 2026.
Q6. How much revenue does The Farmer’s Dog generate?
The Farmer’s Dog reported an estimated annualized net revenue of $1.2 billion for 2024 — a 50% increase year-over-year from $800 million in 2023.
Q7. Did The Farmer’s Dog make any acquisitions in 2026?
Yes. On August 6, 2026, The Farmer’s Dog acquired Woof — its first publicly confirmed acquisition, expanding the company’s platform beyond core dog food delivery.
Q8. How many meals has The Farmer’s Dog delivered?
As of March 2025, The Farmer’s Dog had delivered over 1 billion meals, and by July 2025 was delivering millions of meals every single month across the United States.
The Farmer’s Dog is privately owned by its co-founders Jonathan Regev and Brett Podolsky, with significant minority stakes held by institutional investors including Insight Partners, Forerunner Ventures, Shasta Ventures, CAVU Consumer Partners, and others. The company has raised $268 million in total funding across 6 rounds and carries a current valuation of approximately $4.2 billion as of 2026.
Founded in 2014 with the simple belief that dogs deserve real food, The Farmer’s Dog has grown into a $1.2 billion annual revenue business delivering millions of meals every month. With the recent acquisition of Woof in August 2026 and no signs of an IPO on the immediate horizon, Regev and Podolsky continue to steer the company as a private, founder-controlled operation — one that started because a puppy named Jada needed better food.
