Purina Accelerator Lab nurtures digital future

Now in its sixth year, Unleashed, a programme of the Purina Accelerator Lab, is a 20-week programme that drives innovation by providing selected start-ups with tailored advice and support from Purina industry experts. Seven young, international companies that are disrupting the pet care industry with cutting-edge technologies are participating in Unleashed by Purina's Class of 2025.

The selected startups include

• Aitem from Italy: Developers of Laika, the AI-driven veterinary assistant for diagnostic advice.

• Hubii from Brazil: driving digital sales growth through conversational commerce with hyper-local retailers.

• Petnow from South Korea: App-based biometric identification of pets to support accurate reporting of missing pets and pet registration.

• Petpaw from Thailand: an innovative app that connects pet owners with pets, products and services, and the pet owner community to meet all their pet care needs.

• Petsy from Poland: personalised pet care from trusted local pet sitters.

• Smart Pet Care from Switzerland: Developer of iKitty, an intelligent wet food dispenser for cats.

• Umami Bioworks of Singapore: a bio-platform for the development and plug-and-play production of cultured seafood using machine learning.

Kim Bill, head of the Purina Accelerator Lab, explains: "AI has been a central theme in all the applications, and the startups using AI in our 2025 cohort are prime examples of creative ways to use the technology and advance the field of pet care." In addition to coaching, participants will have access to up to 50 000 CHF per start-up.