News & Insights
Cascadia Capital Advises Kurgo® in its Acquisition by PetSafe®
October 23, 2018
Motivation Design, LLC, doing business as Kurgo®, a designer and marketer of small companion animal lifestyle products, was acquired by Radio Systems Corporation, a global leader in pet containment and lifestyle products through its PetSafe® Brand, Invisible Fence® Brand and SportDOG® Brand.
Based in Salisbury, Massachusetts, Kurgo offers a portfolio of innovative, highly functional and easy-to-use pet travel products that allow families and pets to experience outdoor travel and adventure together. Kurgo’s outside-the-home product line is positioned to capture the active lifestyle pet goods market, which is a large category with significant growth potential.
Popular Kurgo solutions include products for traveling in the car with your dog such as car seat covers, crash tested harnesses, and booster seats, as well as products to make the outdoor excursion a success such as active harnesses, backpacks for dogs, dog life jackets, leashes and collars.
“Brand equity in the active lifestyle pet category among growing demographic segments is dominated by emerging brands,” according to Bryan Jaffe, Managing Director, Cascadia Capital. “The lack of available acquisition targets in the category resulted in Kurgo garnering significant interest from strategic buyers. PetSafe offered the sellers an opportunity to continue to pursue their strategic vision for the brand, while accessing a greater resource base to accelerate growth.”
“We engaged Cascadia because of their understanding of our brand and conviction around the value of that brand to an acquirer, which never wavered,” said co-founder and Chief Business Officer, Gordie Spater. “Our teams worked in a highly collaborative manner to execute a process designed specifically for our circumstance. Kitter and I are very appreciative of Cascadia’s role in helping us achieve this outcome.”
The acquisition of Motivation Designs represents another successful transaction in the pet industry for the Cascadia Consumer & Retail team. Cascadia has now closed sixteen pet industry transactions, including three in 2018. Recent Cascadia clients in the space include Nulo, Fruitables, Manna Pro Products, and PetFlow.