"The pet food industry has been skewed toward either manufacturing or marketing. Limpid aims to directly integrate everything from nutrition formulation to production and brand."
Limpid, founded by veterinary specialists in companion-animal internal medicine, is drawing attention as a rare freeze-dried pet food specialty brand in Korea. Breaking the existing mold that viewed the feed industry only through the lens of brands or original equipment manufacturing (OEM), it built a structure that directly integrates everything from ingredient development to manufacturing and distribution.
Chief Executive Kim Hee-su entered the companion-animal industry in Jan. 2020 by founding the customized nutrition platform "Salad Pet." After running a service that recommends feed based on companion animals' health data, Kim shifted to manufacturing with the thought that "if there are no good products, we should make them ourselves." The company then acquired one of only two freeze-dried compound feed factories in Korea and established an in-house production system.
Freeze-dried pet food is an alternative diet that can minimize the nutritional loss of materials and supplies while maintaining high palatability. Kim said, "If regular dry feed is like cereal, freeze-dried food is closer to baby food," adding, "There is a big difference starting with the smell and taste." In the global pet food market as well, cooked food (煮食) and freeze-dried food are rapidly growing as premium categories. Despite being six to seven times more expensive than traditional feed, demand is steadily rising.
Limpid's strength is its veterinary-based formulation (nutrition design) capability. Of the three co-founders, two are former internal medicine nutrition veterinarians, scientifically designing disease-specific prescriptions and nutritional balance. While existing global prescription feeds have centered on traditional feed, Limpid is pioneering the realm of "alternative prescription feed" that combines internal medical treatment with diet management by leveraging freeze-dried food.
It is also strengthening its identity as a technology corporations. Through its own platform Salad Pet, Limpid jointly developed, with Korea's No. 1 mobile carrier over six months, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based customized pet food recommendation platform, and it is set to launch the service in Nov. The plan is to implement a system that automatically adjusts diets according to the health status of companion animals through AI.
It has gone further to establish, together with Kyungpook National University College of Veterinary Medicine, Korea's first pet food clinical trial organization, "LV Veterinary Clinical Center," as a joint venture. With CJ CheilJedang, it jointly developed vegan natural flavor ingredients for pet food and succeeded in commercializing them.
Limpid has already turned its eyes to the global market. It is set to launch on Amazon in the United States in early Dec. This is the first entry of a Korean brand into freeze-dried pet food. Kim said, "The United States is the home of pet food and the fiercest battleground," adding, "On that stage, we will prove the competitiveness of 'Korean-style premium feed.'"
Korea's pet food market is estimated at 2.5 trillion won as of 2025. The prescription feed market is about 250 billion won. The company posted 360 million won in revenue in Sep. this year. It is targeting 15 billion won in revenue next year.
Limpid plans to build global competitiveness through "vertical integration," from ingredient research and development and manufacturing to marketing, in the domestic pet food industry going forward.
Kim said, "Just as domestic cosmetics are subdivided into skincare and color cosmetics and global flagship brands emerge in each field, in the global pet food market, No. 1 brands by specific segment will also emerge from Korea," adding, "Among them, Limpid will establish itself as a global pet food corporations that sets the standard for 'freeze-dried pet food' and 'AI-based homemade diets.'"