The nominees have been announced: candidates from Austria (DoPetMe), Poland (JOY&TOY! by Wildove), Hungary (Lost Garden Canine) and Germany (AstroPet by PetRhein, Tasty Petfood) – and one of these companies will be honoured as ‘Best Newcomer’ at the International Pet Conference in October. They are featured below. 

The PET worldwide Best Newcomer Award 2026 attracted a high number of entries, which speaks volumes about the growing momentum of the international pet industry. ’The trade magazine PET worldwide aims to support young companies and offer them a platform to raise awareness of themselves and their products within the pet industry, as well as to forge links with leading companies,’ explains editor-in-chief Oliver Mengedoht, outlining the aim of the competition, which has been running since 2022. The five companies – DoPetMe, Lost Garden, PetRhein, Tasty Petfood and Wildove – stood out from the numerous entries for this competition and were nominated for the final by the PET worldwide editorial team. These  start-ups will compete against each other to determine the winner at the International Pet Conference – until then, readers of PET worldwide can cast their vote online for their favourite.

The votes cast by PET worldwide readers, together with the results of a poll among trade visitors at the International Pet Conference in October, will each account for 50 per cent of the overall score. The winner will be crowned PET worldwide Best Newcomer 2026 and will receive the award at the conference in Copenhagen on the evening of the first day of the congress.

All readers who work in the pet sector and can prove this with their website can take part in the vote. Votes by consumers will not be counted, nor may the nominated companies participate in the vote. Deadline readers' voting on 5th October 2026.