Among the burgeoning group of pet food-minded startups popping up - from gourmet delivery services like Ollie's and The Farmer's Dog to automated feeders from Petnet - YaDoggie is mixing together those elements while promising a personalized experience for each customer through predictive shipping and the debut of its new "smart scoop."

Touting itself as "No Worries Dog Food," YaDoggie is a subscription dog food service startup taking on the big leagues of the pet food industry - a behemoth that churned just under $25bn last year and is expected to be valued at more than $30bn by 2022.

Based in Santa Cruz, Calif., YaDoggie was founded in January 2016 by Sol Lipman, a self-described serial entrepreneur who has sold companies to both Yahoo and AOL. Lipman has maintained strong ties after those deals with his buyers. Among YaDoggie's backers is Tim Armstrong, CEO of the entity now known as Oath — the combination of AOL and Yahoo's assets acquired by Verizon.

Nodding toward upstarts like Warby Parker and Dollar Shave Club that have upended retail markets as we knew them for years, Lipman says we haven’t seen that same move in the dog food industry — at least not yet.

"The only innovations we’ve seen in the dog food industry are high end services that cater to 1 percent of dog owners," Lipman says. "YaDoggie is building something for the other 99 percent, but still with a focus on a bespoke experience and a personal relationship with our customers (the dogs, not the people)."

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