Innovative Cat Accessories Business Joins Worldwise, a Leading Platform Focused on Pet Supplies and Pet Essentials
Novato, CA – January 25, 2022 – A&M Capital Partners (“AMCP”), a middle-market private equity investment fund that is part of the A&M Capital platform, together with A&M Capital Opportunities Fund, an affiliated fund, today announced that Worldwise, an AMCP portfolio company, has acquired Kitty Sift (“Kitty Sift”), an innovative leader in the highly consumable cat litter and accessories segment. After the close of the transaction, Kitty Sift will operate under the Worldwise platform, which was acquired by AMCP in September 2021.
Headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Kitty Sift is a branded leader in the North American eco-sustainable cat litter and accessories space, providing creative supply chain solutions to both eCommerce-centric businesses and omni-channel brick and mortar retailers. Kitty Sift’s patented eco-friendly, no-scoop disposable litter box has been recognized by the Pet Business Industry Recognition Awards and the Pet Care Innovation Network in 2021 as one of the most innovative pet care products in the industry.
Worldwise, headquartered in Novato, CA, is one of the leading platforms in the pet supplies market. Worldwise offers retailers a complete, branded one-stop-shop solution that serves the majority of pet supply merchandising needs and provides high-quality, thoughtful, fun, and eco-sustainable products that address both the joys and challenges of pet parenthood. Serving a wide range of categories such as cat toys, pet bedding, dog toys, cat scratchers, and travel accessories, Worldwise’s growing roster of leading award-winning brands include SmartyKat®, TrustyPup®, Petlinks®, goDog®, SHERPA™, Guaranteed On-Board™, FurHaven®, PoochPlanet®, and Pawscout™. Founded in 1990, Worldwise leverages deep industry experience, strong retailer relationships and significant amounts of consumer data to help create quality products inspired by design, innovation and value.
Worldwise’s acquisition of Kitty Sift further enhances its omni-channel presence, adding innovative cat accessories to an already robust product portfolio of toys, pet beds, chews, cat products, travel accessories and other key categories. The addition of Kitty Sift marks Worldwise’s second acquisition in the last month, adding complementary product, as well as brand and management resources, to the platform.
Following the close of the transaction, Kitty Sift’s Founder and CEO, Carrie Van Wert will join Worldwise and its management team. In her new role as Director of Cat Litter & Accessories New Product Development, Ms. Van Wert will focus on the growth and management of the broader cat litter and accessories category.
“We believe that Carrie and her team have done a fantastic job innovating in cat litter and accessories while emphasizing sustainability,” said Ryan McCarthy, Partner at AMCP. “We’re incredibly pleased to bring Carrie and her team under the Worldwise platform to bolster our offerings and lend AMCP’s deep expertise in the pet industry. This is Worldwise’s second acquisition in the last month, demonstrating our focus on continuing to add complementary businesses, products and brands to the Worldwise platform.”
“I created Kitty Sift to address an unmet demand in the pet care market and have successfully grown our business by focusing on providing eco-friendly products to Cat Parents,” said Mrs. Van Wert. “The Kitty Sift team and I are thrilled to be joining Worldwise as we believe they have the vision and infrastructure to help us reach our full potential in the marketplace. We feel the combined platform is well-positioned for continued success as it continues to provide a broad offering of innovative pet solutions across multiple channels.”
“We believe that the addition of Kitty Sift to the Worldwise platform is exciting news for our team and Cat Parents everywhere,” added Mr. Fick. “This marks what we believe to be an important step in our journey to build out the Worldwise platform of brands and develop even more highly innovative, high-quality products across the cat litter and accessories segment. Worldwise is focused on being a leader in innovative cat products and providing our customers and consumers with new products to address their needs. In partnership with AMCP, we look forward to further growing our platform, reach and offerings and continuing to meet our customers’ needs wherever they are looking to purchase our products.”
Calfee, Halter and Griswald LLP provided legal counsel to AMCP.
About Kitty Sift
Headquartered in Eden Prairie, MN, Kitty Sift is a leading North America eco-sustainable cat litter & accessories innovator providing creative supply chain solutions to both eCommerce-centric businesses and omni-channel brick and mortar retailers. For more information, please visit https://kittysift.com.
About Worldwise, Inc.
Worldwise, Inc. is committed to creating the most innovative, accessible, affordable, and environmentally-responsible product-solutions for pets and pet-parents everywhere. Our family of award-winning brands – goDog®, Petlinks®, SHERPA®, Hear Doggy!®, SmartyKat®, TrustyPup®, Guaranteed On-Board®, PoochPlanet®, Pawscout™, FurHaven® and more – all stand for the highest in quality, safety and satisfaction, and incorporate environmentally-responsible materials and processes whenever possible. Adhering to meet child safety standards and backed by our satisfaction guarantee, our thoughtful, fun and eco-sustainable products promote the bond between pets and pet-parents across diverse categories such as cat toys, catnip, cat bedding, cat scratchers, dog toys, dog bedding, dog and cat travel accessories, app-integrated dog and cat tracking solutions, and more. For more information, please visit http://www.worldwise.com.
About A&M Capital Partners
A&M Capital Partners is Alvarez & Marsal Capital’s flagship investment strategy focused on middle-market control transactions in North America with total assets under management of approximately $2.5 billion. AMCP partners with founders, corporates and management teams, providing the capital and strategic assistance that we believe is required to take businesses to the next level of success. AMCP invests in businesses across a wide range of sectors including Business Services, Industrials, Manufacturing, Food & Beverage, Healthcare, Consumer & Retail, Government Services, Financial Services and Energy Services. More broadly, Alvarez & Marsal Capital is a multi-strategy private equity investment firm with over $3.8 billion in total assets under management across four investment strategies, which maintains a strategic association with Alvarez & Marsal, one of the largest operationally-focused advisory firms in the world.
Media Contacts
A&M Capital Partners
Sard Verbinnen & Co
Alyssa Lorenzo / Suzanne Byowitz
310-201-2040 / AMCP-SVC@SARDVERB.com
Worldwise
Propel Communications
Erin Terjesen
602-625-2871 / ERIN@PROPELCOMMUNICATIONS.COM
