A&M Capital Partners-Backed Worldwise Announces Acquisition of Kitty Sift
Thu Jan 01 1970
Innovative Cat Accessories Business Joins Worldwise, a Leading Platform Focused on Pet Supplies and Pet
Essentials
Novato, CA – January 11, 2022 – A&M Capital Partners (“AMCP”), a middle-market private equity
investment fund that is part of the A&M Capital platform, together with A&M Capital Opportunities Fund,
an affiliated fund, today announced that Worldwise, an AMCP portfolio company, has acquired Kitty Sift
(“Kitty Sift”), an innovative leader in the highly consumable cat litter and accessories segment. After the
close of the transaction, Kitty Sift will operate under the Worldwise platform, which was acquired by
AMCP in September 2021.
Headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Kitty Sift is a branded leader in the North American ecosustainable cat litter and accessories space, providing creative supply chain solutions to both
eCommerce-centric businesses and omni-channel brick and mortar retailers. Kitty Sift’s patented ecofriendly, no-scoop disposable litter box has been recognized by the Pet Business Industry Recognition
Awards and the Pet Care Innovation Network in 2021 as one of the most innovative pet care products in
the industry.
Worldwise, headquartered in Novato, CA, is one of the leading platforms in the pet supplies market.
Worldwise offers retailers a complete, branded one-stop-shop solution that serves the majority of pet
supply merchandising needs and provides high-quality, thoughtful, fun, and eco-sustainable products that
address both the joys and challenges of pet parenthood. Serving a wide range of categories such as cat
toys, pet bedding, dog toys, cat scratchers, and travel accessories, Worldwise’s growing roster of leading
award-winning brands include SmartyKat®, TrustyPup®, Petlinks®, goDog®, SHERPA™, Guaranteed OnBoard™, FurHaven®, PoochPlanet®, and Pawscout™. Founded in 1990, Worldwise leverages deep
industry experience, strong retailer relationships and significant amounts of consumer data to help create
quality products inspired by design, innovation and value.
Worldwise’s acquisition of Kitty Sift further enhances its omni-channel presence, adding innovative cat
accessories to an already robust product portfolio of toys, pet beds, chews, cat products, travel
accessories and other key categories. The addition of Kitty Sift marks Worldwise’s second acquisition in
the last month, adding complementary product, as well as brand and management resources, to the
platform.
Following the close of the transaction, Kitty Sift’s Founder and CEO, Carrie Van Wert will join Worldwise
and its management team. In her new role as Director of Cat Litter & Accessories New Product
Development, Ms. Van Wert will focus on the growth and management of the broader cat litter and
accessories category
“We believe that Carrie and her team have done a fantastic job innovating in cat litter and accessories
while emphasizing sustainability,” said Ryan McCarthy, Partner at AMCP. “We’re incredibly pleased to
bring Carrie and her team under the Worldwise platform to bolster our offerings and lend AMCP’s deep
expertise in the pet industry. This is Worldwise’s second acquisition in the last month, demonstrating our
focus on continuing to add complementary businesses, products and brands to the Worldwise platform.”
“I created Kitty Sift to address an unmet demand in the pet care market and have successfully grown our
business by focusing on providing eco-friendly products to Cat Parents,” said Mrs. Van Wert. “The Kitty
Sift team and I are thrilled to be joining Worldwise as we believe they have the vision and infrastructure
to help us reach our full potential in the marketplace. We feel the combined platform is well-positioned
for continued success as it continues to provide a broad offering of innovative pet solutions across
multiple channels.”
“We believe that the addition of Kitty Sift to the Worldwise platform is exciting news for our team and Cat
Parents everywhere,” added Mr. Fick. “This marks what we believe to be an important step in our journey
to build out the Worldwise platform of brands and develop even more highly innovative, high-quality
products across the cat litter and accessories segment. Worldwise is focused on being a leader in
innovative cat products and providing our customers and consumers with new products to address their
needs. In partnership with AMCP, we look forward to further growing our platform, reach and offerings
and continuing to meet our customers’ needs wherever they are looking to purchase our products.”
Calfee, Halter and Griswald LLP provided legal counsel to AMCP.
About Kitty Sift
Headquartered in Eden Prairie, MN, Kitty Sift is a leading North America eco-sustainable cat litter &
accessories innovator providing creative supply chain solutions to both eCommerce-centric businesses
and omni-channel brick and mortar retailers. For more information, please visit https://kittysift.com.
About Worldwise, Inc.
Worldwise, Inc. is committed to creating the most innovative, accessible, affordable, and
environmentally-responsible product-solutions for pets and pet-parents everywhere. Our family of
award-winning brands - goDog®, Petlinks®, SHERPA®, Hear Doggy!®, SmartyKat®, TrustyPup®, Guaranteed
On-Board®, PoochPlanet®, Pawscout™, FurHaven® and more - all stand for the highest in quality, safety
and satisfaction, and incorporate environmentally-responsible materials and processes whenever
possible. Adhering to meet child safety standards and backed by our satisfaction guarantee, our
thoughtful, fun and eco-sustainable products promote the bond between pets and pet-parents across
diverse categories such as cat toys, catnip, cat bedding, cat scratchers, dog toys, dog bedding, dog and cat
travel accessories, app-integrated dog and cat tracking solutions, and more. For more information, please
visit http://www.worldwise.com.
About A&M Capital Partners
A&M Capital Partners is Alvarez & Marsal Capital’s flagship investment strategy focused on middlemarket control transactions in North America with total assets under management of approximately $2.5
billion. AMCP partners with founders, corporates and management teams, providing the capital and
strategic assistance that we believe is required to take businesses to the next level of success. AMCP
invests in businesses across a wide range of sectors including Business Services, Industrials,
Manufacturing, Food & Beverage, Healthcare, Consumer & Retail, Government Services, Financial
Services and Energy Services. More broadly, Alvarez & Marsal Capital is a multi-strategy private equity
investment firm with over $3.8 billion in total assets under management across four investment
strategies, which maintains a strategic association with Alvarez & Marsal, one of the largest operationallyfocused advisory firms in the world.
Media Contacts
A&M Capital Partners
Sard Verbinnen & Co
Alyssa Lorenzo / Suzanne Byowitz
310-201-2040 / AMCP-SVC@SARDVERB.com
Worldwise
Propel Communications
Erin Terjesen
602-625-2871 / ERIN@PROPELCOMMUNICATIONS.COM