PooPoof
PET SANITATION · CONNECTICUT COLLEGE · PRE-SEED
Roughly 89 million dogs in the United States go twice a day and the standard answer is still a plastic bag. That habit sends about 1.27 million tons of bags to landfill each year and leaves an estimated 11 million tons of waste in shared spaces. Dog waste contaminates 24% of US watersheds. PooPoof is developing a foam that dissolves dog waste where it lands, so there is nothing to pick up at all.
A single deposit from a medium-sized dog weighs about 30 grams. After spraying the foam directly onto the deposit, enzymes within the spray break the solids apart until there is nothing solid left. What remains is water, mineral salts and sugars: colorless, odorless, and safe on both soil and hard floors. Outdoors it soaks into the ground. Indoors it dries without staining.
In lab conditions PooPoof’s solution has successfully dissolved a 15g portion in 15 minutes so far.
After walking dogs for thousands of hours, I decided to do something about the most annoying part.
Fast Facts
Stage | Pre-seed |
Employees | 3 Full-time; 2 Contracted |
Revenue | Pre-revenue; first pilots scheduled for Q3 2026 |
HQ | New Haven, CT and Somerville, MA |
Backing | 3: the Veterinary Angel Network, Greentown Labs and ClimateHaven |
Direct Competitors | Plastic and compostable bags, scoop services |
Liberal Arts Founders
Isabella Hinkson
CONNECTICUT COLLEGE · Co-Founder & CEO
Isabella studied quantitative economics at Connecticut College, where she rowed varsity crew. After more than a thousand hours walking dogs professionally, she interviewed 500 owners, vets and caregivers. As a Future Founders fellow, she leads PooPoof’s strategy, fundraising and the commercial pipeline.
How it Works
SKU 1 is an indoor product for dog boarding facilities, which require consistent cleaning throughout the day. There are roughly 3,000 premium sites of this kind in the United States. SKU 2 adds pathogen neutralization, biodegradability and outdoor stability for consumers walking dogs.
B2B plan: Commercial customers pay a subscription: $199 a month for a small site, $279 for mid-size and $499 for large, which is $2,388 to $5,988 a year. PooPoof puts that at 0.2% to 0.7% of what one of these sites spends annually.
B2C plan: Consumers pay about $1 a day, or $360 a year, for a 100mL refill that lasts a medium dog roughly ten days. PooPoof models a $4.3K lifetime value per customer and targets gross margin above 70%. For scale, the global dog waste bag market is $20.8B this year and is forecast to reach $26.3B by 2033.
Why Now?
The US pet market is forecast to grow from $243B to $483B between 2025 and 2035, with dogs accounting for 53% of that spend. 70% of owners say they prioritize environmentally friendly products. Commercial customers already pay for cleaning, odor control and labor, so PooPoof is competing for budget that exists. New York City is separately exploring 23,000 dog waste stations, which would commit $100M to $300M over five years to bags, labor and hauling.
Traction
Measure | Figure | Detail |
|---|---|---|
Signed letters of intent | 3 | Central Bark, Camp Bow Wow and Dogtopia |
Pilot scale | 500–800 dogs | Governors Island, approved for Q3 2026 and the first test outside the lab |
Lab breakdown | 15 min on 15g | A realistic single deposit is about 30 grams |
Customer research | 500+ interviews | Plus 1,000 hours of professional dog walking |
Network potential | $300K–$2.4M | Annual contract value at 100 to 300 franchise sites, on PooPoof’s own model |
Market Overview
Competitive Analysis
No pickup | No plastic | No hauling | |
|---|---|---|---|
Plastic and compostable bags | – | – | – |
Scoop services | ✓ | – | – |
PooPoof | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Our Take
WHAT WE LIKE
Scientific team in place: a Yale enzymologist and a P&G formulation scientist lead R&D, with P&G intellectual property counsel and a former Rockefeller Foundation principal advising. The formula has to perform outdoors, and that is the relevant expertise.
Low cost relative to budget: the contract represents 0.2% to 0.7% of what a site spends annually, so adoption will depend on whether staff use the product consistently rather than on price.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
Product performance gap: breakdown currently takes 15 minutes on 15 grams, against a 90-second marketing claim and realistic loads of about 30 grams. Closing that gap is the central technical task.
LOIs are not revenue: three chains have signed letters of intent rather than contracts, and PooPoof is pre-revenue. The Governors Island pilot and the first franchise conversion are the milestones to watch.
WHY WE FEATURED POOPOOF
We were impressed with the candor and creativity of the founding team while working with them to bolster their fundraising materials. Additionally, PooPoof has the ability to go viral. This is a fantasy, but feasible, solution to a real mundane problem felt by pet owners throughout the world.
Shared for informational purposes only. Nothing here is investment, legal, or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Company figures are company-reported and market figures are third-party estimates and have not been independently verified.