Wiggles - A Petcare Ecosystem 

Anushka Iyer, Founder

It's a whole new world out there for our pets. Wiggles is out to capture it all and offer pet parents with not just the basics in pet services but a 360 degree petcare system

When we sat down in conversation with the founder of Wiggles your #partnerinpethood we didn’t have to do much talking. Anushka Iyer is a firebrand who keeps you so engaged with her knowledge of the pet industry and the passion that drives her brand, Wiggles.

Also, the love she has for Wiggles, her cute little Lhasa Apso. One of six dogs, all rescued after abandonment and given a loving home by crazy dog lover, Anushka and her equally crazy dog-loving, serial entrepreneur dad, Rajh Iyer. Along with Venkat Mahadevan, long-time family friend – and a country-wide team of 250 members – the trio push Wiggles forward each day to make it the 360º petcare ecosystem they envisioned, based on emotional, social and physical care. Winner of the Retail Startup of the Year Award 2020, a certified member of the US-based World Pet Association and IPSA – International Political Science Association dealing with the regulation of animal health and welfare – brand, the vision is certainly coming to fruition and Wiggles has arrived. They have even been the first to acquire a veterinary license for cannabis-infused oil for pain-relief in dogs called CannaPaw, which has been certified by the Ministry of Ayush.

Anushka smiles and starts off, “Wiggles has come a long way since we launched four years ago. But it has never felt like work. We started off as a three-member team and during COVID, we were delivering our products as far as possible. We gained a lot of goodwill during this time and today, we are a team of 250 strong across India and very fortunately they are all an empathetic bunch of animal lovers.”  Animal lovers extends to experts in the field like veterinarians, behaviourists, trainers, nutritionists, volunteers and the like which form the online community in existence on Facebook and WhatsApp called Wiggles Tribe. With more than 50,000 members, the tribe is growing, and how.

“This is a pro bono service where we stick to our motto that we do not want to sell, only serve,” emphasises Anushka. “There are no experts on this group, just animal lovers who help furry ones in need.” This goes way back to when a nascent animal lover by the name of Anushka Iyer would actively rescue and rehome animals on the street and joined several animal welfare groups in the process. The same girl who went on to be selected to do a diploma in Canine Care from the British College of Canine Studies; but not before equipping herself for business with a degree in International Management from Rennes School of Business, France. Eventually, she earned herself a spot in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia, Class of 2021 under Retail & E-Commerce, taking Wiggles to the heights.

While Wiggles is an online pet brand offering foods like EveryDawg, treats like Barkstix, grooming essentials and services, health supplements and medicines, expert advice by industry professionals, and more, it offers a physical boarding, training and veterinary facility called Petsville, too. This is based in the founder’s home city of Poona. Wiggles also organises events with experts across the country under the banner, Joining Hands. Anushka takes pride in Petsville when she explains how she designed the space herself, quite like a page of out of a fairytale book. Design is another aspect of her work which can also be seen in the rebranding of Wiggles with a sweet new ‘lovemark’ logo to magnify the #partnerinparenthood mantra. “You will see a heart which symbolises unconditional love of pets, a tick mark which means we must make smart choices for them and the infinity symbol which denotes the forever and forever bond we share with them,” Anushka informs. She adds that pet parents can look forward to a whole set of vet clinics under Wiggles My Vet for all their pet’s medical needs.

Our pets are our everything, our new “kids”, as Anushka describes them. We live in an age where “owners” is replaced with “parents” now and it is going to be a $2 billion category by 2027-28, she gives it to us straight. “This is a very exciting time for the pet industry, this huge shift we are seeing where more than 70% of pets brought home in recent years have been by the millennials and Gen Z, and they make up 65% of the population in India. Wiggles has captured the essence of pet care in these changing times.” Successfully so, for Wiggles has raised $6.5M till 2021 are in advanced talks to raise $15M - $20M for the next series.

Wiggles saw the need to address this boom with a 360º approach which began with a deep understanding of the industry and what is lacking. Anushka enunciated the same with segregating the industry into culture and category. “Under culture, you have a lack of awareness about pet care. Then you have adoptions that are driven by fads today. Third, there is no generational knowledge of raising pets. Category involves a range of products that we see today that are not backed by R&D or scientific proof. The quality of these products is substandard and most importantly, products like pet food are unregulated.” Taking all this into consideration, she decided to give pet parents a brand they can trust and rely on, one that is based on four core values: integrated care, authorised solutions, expertise and scientific backing. Wiggles, the Lhasa and Anushka’s five other rescued dogs, along with Maya – Venkat’s GSD kid –all wag in agreement.