Pezzy Pets

As we begin our first formal investment process, I’ve been workshopping our narrative. Pezzy isn’t just a CPG company. Traditional CPG brands source raw materials from third parties and manufacture their products either in-house or through co-manufacturers. We’re different. We’re vertically integrated. We take the fish from the water to your pet’s plate. I told an investor recently that my focus is first and foremost on the impact we generate in the communities where we operate. As demand for Pezzy grows, I can’t just pick up the phone and double our devil fish order because we are the supply chain. We invest heavily in small-scale fishing communities precisely because it's been overlooked for so long. Pezzy's core premise is simple: 🐟 There's an extreme abundance of untapped, high-quality protein 🐟 Tens of thousands of fishers have been negatively impacted by invasive species 🐟 We have the skills and experience to connect the dots and build a better supply chain I don't think you can’t have rocket ship growth while prioritizing social and environmental impact. The "to-the-moon" VC mindset is built on exploiting the people who fish, farm, and manufacture products and/or provide services. We’re building something different. Our fishers and processors now earn, on average, 40% more than before while working fewer hours. They’re paying for their kids’ college tuition, covering medical costs, and improving their quality of life. We’re proving that growth and impact aren’t mutually exclusive but that you just have to build differently. And we’re making sure that as Pezzy grows, our foundation, our fishing communities, grow with us.

Excited to bring our lionfish flour to the world! By utilizing more of each fish, we're able to pay fishers even more for each lionfish, creating more financial incentive for folks to remove this invasive fish from coral reefs around the Caribbean. This flour is super high in protein, omega-3's, calcium, phosphorus and a bunch of other vital micronutrients. We'll be using the flour in our upcoming surf + turf jerky and also be selling it to other pet companies as an ingredient.

Come join us at Startup CPG's SF meetup on 9/19! We'll be dishing out samples of our pet treats made from invasive fish :) https://lnkd.in/gBGrd_FE

We were on the island of Cozumel in Mexico last week for a regional lionfish forum that included fishing cooperatives, government officials, NGOs and private sector representatives from Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica and Panama. It was great meeting folks from around the Caribbean and discussing how we can work together to control invasive lionfish numbers while supporting fishers and the broader economy that depends on healthy coral reefs. From the start our proposal has always been very simple - we provide the tools and guaranteed market for fishers to turn hated, invasive fish into products that are great for pets, people and the planet as a whole. This is capitalism for a cause! PS anytime we can go diving on a work trip, it's considered a win 😉

NEW PACKAGING IS HERE!! We're so excited to share that our new packaging has finally arrived and has already started shipping out! Even with an epic makeover, we were able to stick with 100% COMPOSTABLE packaging which we're so so happy about. For now, we just have the OG devil fish strips and silver carp chips in our new packaging but will update the others over the next couple months. 

Please vote for our proposed #SOCAP24 session titled "Market-based Solutions for Invasive Species Management & Biodiversity Restoration." Stoked to team up with Conservation International Ventures LLC and INVERSA Leathers for this! https://lnkd.in/gWypnCJF

Excited to announce an investment from the ICA Fund seed fund!