HelloBello is a Pet Tech company founded in Vienna, Austria in 2019 with the mission of developing the best dog food that meets their nutritional needs. Hello Bello, as a subscription service, delivers freshly cooked human-grade food to its customers on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. The food is in the form of personalized meals that are free of by-products and are based on the type, weight, and age of the dog. The recipes use natural sources such as millet and seaweed rather than supplements, making it easier for the dog to absorb and receive true nutritional benefits.
“This is a completely new category here in the German-speaking area. With HelloBello, we not only want to be the first in this field but also expand this lead and assert ourselves as a leading company in the entire German-speaking region.” explained co-founder Wolfgang Maurer in an interview.
Wolfgang conceived the idea of HelloBello while caring for his sister’s Labrador dog and trying to buy food for her. Wolfgang was unfamiliar with the food market as an occasional dog sitter. Internet research yielded a jungle of absurd ingredients, cryptic ingredient lists, and a wide range of by-products.
“Mia, my sister’s dog, has some physical problems, which is why she is not allowed to eat everything. Since I didn’t have any more food at home, I wanted to play it safe and find out on the internet which food is best for her. Easier said than done. Because the food market for dogs is a jungle. If you want to know within two minutes what your own dog needs in order to be optimally cared for, you have no chance. It quickly became clear to me: dog nutrition must become simpler, more transparent, and better. And so the idea for HelloBello was born.”
Specialized veterinarians create recipes at HelloBello that result in a completely balanced diet. HelloBello requests the dog’s breed, weight, age, and gender when a customer signs up for the subscription. The underlying algorithm then calculates the animal’s daily energy requirements and matches them to the appropriate recipes. When an order is placed, the food is freshly prepared, portioned, and delivered via express delivery. The end result is a healthy dog and a contented owner. The price per kilogram ranges between €7 and €15, or approximately $7.40 and $15.90.
Last year, HelloBello raised €600,000 in a pre-seed round from investors including Hans Peter Haselsteiner and Hardlymountain Capital. The company raised a seed round of €1.7 million in November 2022. Johann “Hansi” Hansmann, one of Austria’s most well-known angel investors, participated in the funding round. Companion Fund, which specializes in pet care, and Tractive, an Austrian company that manufactures pet-tracking devices, are among the other investors.
“HelloBello intelligently fills an existing market gap in the pet market with freshly cooked and individualized rations delivered in the subscription system – and that in a market that is stable even in times of crisis,” said Johann Hansmann.
Here’s a look at the pitch deck that HelloBello used to raise a $1.5 million Seed round from Johann Hansmann, and others.
What were the slides in the HelloBello pitch deck?
Browse the exact example slides from the pitch deck that HelloBello used to raise $1.5M in a Seed round from Johann Hansmann, Companion Fund, and Tractive.
1. Problem Slide
At their core, startups exist to solve problems. Every major technology company you’ve heard of today began with a major problem identified by a specific customer segment. Facebook was founded because it was difficult to find and connect with your friends online; Canva exists because digital design tools like Photoshop were extremely complex and difficult to learn; Uber wanted to tackle the unreliability of hailing a taxi and so on.
Because a specific problem is a driving force behind the existence of any startup, it is critical that investors a) understand that problem and b) understand why it should be solved. This is where the problem slide comes into play.
HelloBello’s pitch deck’s problem slide covers both questions by explaining that “hours of research” is required to find individualized dog meals and lack of healthy food is leading to “obesity, cancer, and premature death”.
The slide strategically highlights words to improve the user experience by increasing text readability. The image used is also very appropriate as it depicts endless choices. Research has repeatedly shown that when people experience choice overload they can experience a wide range of negative outcomes, from frustration and confusion to regret, dissatisfaction, and even choice paralysis. This problem is exactly what HelloBello is trying to solve.
2. Market Size Slide
Understanding the importance of market size is straightforward. Imagine if you have created a medicine that can cure babesiosis with a single pill. While the people suffering from this disease will be ecstatic, but very few investors are bound to invest in your company as there is just not enough demand (over a 7-year period, a total of just 7,818 hospitalizations listed babesiosis as a primary or secondary admitting diagnosis).
As a result, market size is arguably the most important factor that investors consider when making investment decisions. If a market is large and growing, there will be many opportunities for a startup to generate revenue and profits, which, in turn, can make it an attractive investment opportunity. On the other hand, if a market is small, it will be harder for the investors to justify taking the risk, even if they really like the idea or the product.
HelloBello’s pitch deck’s market slides are very clear about the various segments (with the typical TAM, SAM, and SOM breakdown) of the market and HelloBello’s target audience. The slide also mentions data sources, which is always a good idea when it comes to building trust. The slide could have been improved even further by reducing the amount of text: as a founder, it may be tempting to include as much information as possible to demonstrate what a fantastic opportunity you have, but investors do not have the time to go through everything. One distinguishing feature of great pitch decks is that they include only the most important information.
3. Competition Slide
Understanding and evaluating competition is an integral part of any startup’s roadmap and product strategy. Without this critical step, you risk producing a mediocre product that does not solve the problem better than what is already available. Leveraging superior knowledge of competitors to improve your offering is the key to building a defensible moat & competitive advantage.
Competitor knowledge becomes even more important when raising funding: it can help investors better understand the market and highlight your competitors’ weaknesses (and strengths) and how you are positioned to take advantage of the opportunity with a better offering.
The competition slide in HelloBello’s pitch deck explains the differentiators (advantages gained when a business’s products or services differ from its competitors) of a “high degree of personalization and product quality” over its competitors. To accomplish this, the slide employs a simple competitive matrix. Again, the slide could benefit from less text, but it does an excellent job of explaining who the competition is and what they are doing in the market.
How-to create your own pitch deck like HelloBello
We hope you learned something from the HelloBello pitch deck, and that you are able to use these insights for your own business. If you’d like to, you can bookmark it at bestpitchdeck.com/HelloBello
Although it probably goes without saying that having a successful business (outside just their pitch deck) was integral to their success, it is critical for any startup to ensure your vision is portrayed properly. That’s where crafting the perfect pitch deck comes essential:
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