[Next K-Startup] Finding Our Child's Taste... "Contributing to the Advancement of Pet Food"

Making Nutritionally Balanced Feed Directly
Changing Company Name to 'Limpid' While Expanding Business

Editor's Note26 to 1. This is the competition rate for the first accelerating program of Next Elevation, a startup accelerator established by Asia Economy. Over 130 startups from various fields applied, and five startups were finally selected. The competition is still ongoing. Startups selected as outstanding companies during the three-month program can receive up to 100 million KRW in investment. Next Elevation plans to continue to attract follow-up investments through a demo day scheduled for December. The curtain on the heated competition has already risen. As the competition was fierce, the ambitions of the five startups are extraordinary. We visited the site where the forging for innovation is in full swing.

The population that considers pets as family members is rapidly increasing. The so-called ‘petfamjok’ (pet+family) in Korea has surpassed 10 million and is looking toward 15 million. However, the pet food industry is lagging behind compared to the United States or Europe. Kim Hee-su, CEO of Limpid, who graduated from Kyungpook National University College of Veterinary Medicine and worked as a veterinarian, often heard pet owners ask, “What kind of food should I feed?” but it was not easy to give a clear answer. Each pet prefers different food, and the nutritional components vary widely. Therefore, he pondered how to find pet food that would satisfy pets.

The start was the pet food data platform ‘SaladPet.’ SaladPet has registered 41,436 types of dog and cat food and provides information on size, shape, processing method, odor intensity, safety, and more. It allows owners to easily check what ingredients to be cautious about, the nutritional composition, and whether there is powder dust before purchasing food. Owners who bought the food also write reviews, focusing on sharing information. It is similar to existing applications that inform users about cosmetic ingredients.

Using the palatability test kit developed by Limpid, it is also possible to check which foods pets prefer or reject. This is called ‘Finding Our Child’s Taste.’ The method is simple. After checking whether the pet eats well seven types of test food provided by SaladPet and recording it in the app, the app recommends food. CEO Kim explained, “We check how much and in what order the pet ate each food based on the data entered by the owners,” adding, “We inform the owners of food that the pet can eat well based on preferences such as preferred kibble size, whether the pet is greedy or a light eater, and whether it prefers chicken or beef food.”

Going a step further, Limpid is also directly producing ‘nutritionally balanced’ pet food. In July, they launched the pet food brand ‘Trusty Food.’ CEO Kim said, “Many domestic pet foods fail to meet the 40 to 50 nutrients required in the US or Europe,” adding, “If the nutritional components are incorrect or unbalanced, it can lead to pet diseases, and if the pet already has a disease, it can worsen. Therefore, we focus on fine-tuning nutrition.” Since it was difficult to balance nutritional components in existing factories, they built a new factory.

Kim Hee-su, CEO of Limpid. Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@

One of Limpid’s ultimate goals is to contribute to raising the overall level of the domestic pet food industry. They plan to publish pet food guidelines based on 50 to 60 English documents regularly released by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) and the Federation of European Pet Food Industry Associations (FEDIAF). CEO Kim emphasized, “We are preparing to distribute these guidelines for free so that domestic manufacturers can easily understand the nutritional aspects of pet food and reflect them in their recipes,” adding, “This is not for making money but to find areas that need help and grow together.”

Limpid, which started as Rhinobox in 2020, recently changed its name as the business expanded. ‘Limpid’ means ‘clear, transparent’ in English. CEO Kim said, “As the company’s direction shifted from a platform strategy to vertical expansion within the pet food market, including specialized services, manufacturing, and consulting for manufacturers, we changed the name to better reflect the direction we want to pursue,” adding, “We want to become a company that is the center of pet food industry research in East Asia.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.