Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Jane Fraser sees Israel-Hamas conflict as opportunity to reemphasize security, Hilton ranks as the best place to work for women, and Kaley Cuoco raises $3 million for a new pet care brand inspired by her late dog. Have a wonderful Wednesday.
– Dogged ambition. Kaley Cuoco is known for starring on The Big Bang Theory and The Flight Attendant—and for her love of animals as a dog owner and equestrian. So as the actor considered opportunities for her own brand, she knew right away which category she wanted to be in: pet care.
Cuoco’s new pet care brand Oh Norman! launches today, five months after it was first announced. The brand raised $3 million in funding from investors including Midnight Venture Partners, Everywhere Ventures, and Freedom Trail Capital, Fortune is the first to report. It’s led by Cuoco’s cofounder and CEO Katie Hunt, a former chief brand officer for the dating app Hinge and an early Warby Parker employee.
Oh Norman! is named for Cuoco’s late dog Norman; her production company also carries the animal’s name. For now, the startup sells only products for dogs, although Hunt and Cuoco say they want to expand to products for other animals. The first products include dog bowls and placemats, as well as two $35 liquid supplements to stop itching and support calm behavior in dogs. The company plans to donate a portion of sales to animal rescue organizations.
Cuoco’s ultimate goal, she told me over Zoom yesterday, is to build “the Honest Company for pets,” a safe-ingredient-focused pet brand inspired by Jessica Alba’s baby care line.
The comparison has some potential. The baby care and nutrition industries were transformed as ingredient-conscious millennials became parents, and millennials are also known for caring for their pets like children. Today, however, pet ownership rates have stabilized after the pandemic’s surge, and pet owners have been hit hard by inflation.
Oh Norman! is Cuoco’s first brand of her own and represents the first time she was involved in the fundraising process. “This is a whole new thing for me,” she says. “I was like, ‘Is this what Shark Tank feels like?'”
She leaves running the business to Hunt, but she’s a hands-on founder in other ways. Cuoco ate the brand’s melatonin-and-chamomile calming supplement called “Calm the eff down!” before she gave it to her dog. (She now has four rescue dogs on her ranch in southern California.) “I was fine,” she says. “In fact, I was very relaxed.”
The pet care industry is on track to become a $500 billion market globally by 2030 and reach $200 billion in the U.S. by that time, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
“When you pair that growth in the pet space with such an authentic voice with such a large following”—Cuoco has 7.9 million Instagram followers—“It’s hard to dispute there’s going to be traction,” Hunt says. Combine those forces with the “millennial female shopper who is looking for products that don’t exist on the market and is actively already involved with Kaley, following her career” and “you can actually change the market.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- The new 'S' in ESG. Amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser suggested that the "S" in "ESG" change to "security." She stressed the importance of “food security, energy security…defense, or financial security” at a Saudi Arabian investment conference. Bloomberg
- Five-peat.Hilton topped Fortune and Great Place to Work’s annual ranking of best large workplaces for women for the fifth year in a row; fellow hotel operator Marriott International was a close second. The rest of the top 10 included companies like Cisco Systems, Deloitte, and Pinnacle Financial Partners, a bank where 65.4% of employees are women. Fortune
- Blurred lines. For two years, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has committed a reported $100 million to Steel Perlot, a startup accelerator run by entrepreneur Michelle Ritter, whom the married Schmidt is said to be dating. Now Forbes reports that Ritter has "overstated financial commitments and overhyped involvement from industry leaders" in Steel Perlot and that lines have blurred between the firm and other Schmidt ventures. Ritter has pushed back against the claims. Forbes
- Fashion forward.“Neo-couture” is how Colby Mugrabi, founder of clothing brand Mmerch, describes her upcoming collection of one-of-one clothing pieces that come with their own NFTs. Mugrabi, who sees a future where every piece of clothing is entirely unique, uses AI to help generate her designs. Vogue Business
- The Queen's speech. Jordan’s Queen Rania Al Abdullah spoke with CNN on Wednesday about the “glaring double standard” she sees between the global response to violence against Israeli and Palestinian civilians. A Palestinian herself, the Queen said that her country condemns the death of all civilians, but she asked that the international community recognize Palestinian history and seek justice for its civilians as well. CNN
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Ashley McEvoystepped down as executive vice president of Johnson & Johnson's MedTech business. AutogenAI appointed Elizabeth Lukas as CEO, Americas.
ON MY RADAR
Kylie Jenner teases new fashion project Khy WWD
A journalist exposes the Philippines’ extralegal killings The New Yorker
She burned it all down, to build the perfect dress The New York Times
PARTING WORDS
"It was a rather wonderful kind of sisterhood between us: we all knew there were hours when we didn't want to be bothered. But we always knew we'd still do our work. And we would do it in our own way."
—Tina Brown reflecting on her time as editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair and the work-life balance she shared with her team
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