See other companies on Welcome to the Jungle

Bark

Dog toys and treats subscription service

Bark logo
501-1000 employees
  • B2C
  • Pets
  • Toys
  • eCommerce
Financial District, New York, NY

Company mission

To make dogs as happy as they make us, because dogs and humans are better together.

Led by a woman
Top investors

0% employee growth in 12 months

Our take

The number of subscription model services has risen substantially over nearly a decade, and the hassle-free, customizable model makes it a smart fit for pet services. BARK, previously BarkBox, is a subscription company working with retail giants like Amazon, Target, and PetSmart to leverage this trend, delivering monthly boxes of dog products to pet owners.

The recession-resistant nature of the pet sector has made BARK an attractive investment prospect. However, numerous like-for-like US competitors have enjoyed the same market benefits, and whilst BARK's big-name retail partnerships are likely to keep it ahead, at some point it may need to consider more decisive ways of distinguishing themselves from competitors.

However, the company has has leveraged these advantages into material gains. Further, after a minor rebrand and the launch of BARK food, its own dog food brand, they seem well-placed to continue ahead of the pack. The company also launched two marketing email campaigns in January 2023 for its lately Durable Dental Chew product launch and launched SMS in July 2022; these have been tangible efforts to keep its subscribers long term.

Steph headshot

Steph

Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle

Benefits

  • Thinkin' about your future - Extended parental leave, 401k plans, and other "live your life" benefits to help you and your pack flourish
  • Health + wellness - We offer truly fantastic medical, dental, and vision coverage for humans, plus comprehensive pet insurance for your whole family
  • Flexible vacation - All work and no play is a big bummer for your dog. Our pack takes real vacations to get away and uses our flexible work from home policy to get stuff done
  • Salary + equity - Our competitive salaries are supplemented with BARK equity offers - everone here is invested (literally and figuratively.)
  • Office dogs, of course - It would be kind of weird if you didn't bring your dog to work. Being at BARK means having human and dog coworkers
  • Comfy place to work (and nap) - Dog beds everywhere and there's no such thing as too many treats. For humans, cold brew is on tap, meals are catered 3x weekly, and we love our seltzer robot

Funding (last 2 of 5 rounds)

Dec 2016

$60m

SERIES C

May 2016

$60m

SERIES C

Total funding: $141.7m

This company has top investors

Leadership

Matt Meeker

(Co-founder & Executive Chairman)

Matt worked as an Account Director at i-traffic from 1998-2000 before co-founding Meetup.com and working as an Advisor for OpenSky. He co-founded BARK - BarkBox's parent company - in October 2011, serving as CEO until September- when he became Executive Chairman.

Henrik Werdelin

(Co-founder)

Henrik started his career at the BBC before co-founding Tripledash, Prehype, and serving on the Board of Issuu. In October 2011, he co-founded BARK with Matt and Carly.

Carly Strife

(Co-founder)

After 3 years at Deloitte as a Senior Valuation Associate, Carly worked for Uber for a year in Operations. She left this role to co-found BARK in October 2011, and has also been a Partner of Ambush Capital since January 2018.

Jobs (2)

All locations

People, HR, Recruitment

Sales & Account Management