DASH Dog Food Raises Oversubscribed Seed Round to Make 'Table-Grade' the New Standard in Fresh-Frozen Dog Food

Led by Voltage Ventures, capital infusion will scale DASH's subscription growth model and new recipes to a lineup built on ButcherBox sourcing standards

BOSTON, MA, UNITED STATES, September 22, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- DASH Dog Food, the premium fresh-frozen dog food brand founded and led by ButcherBox first hire and former VP of Operations Bobby Quirk, today announced the close of an oversubscribed $1.5 million seed round led by Voltage Ventures. Western Technology Investment participated alongside a group of individual investors drawn from direct-to-consumer protein, cold-chain logistics, and retail. Marissa Bertorelli, General Partner at Voltage Ventures, and Mike Salguero, Founder and CEO of ButcherBox, join the DASH board of directors. The company will use the capital to expand paid acquisition, scale the growth model behind its subscription business, and fund R&D for new food formulations.

Building a Category Called Table-Grade
DASH is positioned as a category upgrade, not a category copy. Where most fresh dog food brands lead with human-grade as their proof point, DASH is introducing table-grade as both the standard it holds itself to and the language it will use across the company. This means food sourced, cooked, and tested to the discipline the founding team spent ten years applying to protein sold for people, with the standards published rather than implied. The distinction matters. Human-grade means food is fit for a person to eat, but that says nothing about whether it is actually nutritious or even tastes good. Table-grade asks a simpler question: if it is not good enough to serve at your own table, why serve it to your dog?

In practice, that means humanely raised 100% grass-fed beef and certified organic chicken from suppliers vetted to standards most pet food brands never meet: no antibiotics ever, no added hormones, and pre- and postbiotics in every recipe. Each small batch of food is sous vide-cooked at 165 degrees, rather than the high-heat mass production most of the category shares with kibble.

"Every dog owner is making a decision on behalf of an animal who can’t speak for themselves,” said Bobby Quirk, Founder and CEO, DASH Dog Food. “Table-grade is how we make that decision easier. Plenty of our customers were already cooking for their dogs. We take that time and work off their plates by doing the sourcing, nutrition balancing, and batch cooking for them. This round lets us do it across more recipes and more households."

Focus First, Then Expansion
Since separating from ButcherBox in June 2025, revenue growth has been up 130%. DASH also discontinued its dry food line to focus entirely on fresh-frozen after its formal rebrand in June of this year.

The capital funds the next stage. DASH will roll out a redesigned package this season and add two new proteins – seafood and turkey – to a lineup that has been solely beef and chicken since launch. Both new recipes are sourced from suppliers the team worked with for years at ButcherBox and were shaped by direct customer feedback. The company is allocating roughly 10% of the round to research and development on the new formulations.

“We partner with founders building category-defining animal health companies, and we believe the next decade of animal health will be decided in the bowl as much as in the clinic,” said Marissa Bertorelli, General Partner, Voltage Ventures. “Nutrition is the most repeated decision in a dog's life, twice a day for a decade or more, and it is the decision owners have the least visibility into. DASH is a rare team with the supply chain expertise to change what goes in that bowl. They’re exactly the kind of company we built Voltage to back, and we're glad to be invested from the start.”

DASH is now available via subscription at DashDogFood.com, with custom meal plans tailored to each dog's size, age, and dietary needs.

###

About DASH Dog Food
DASH Dog Food is a premium fresh-frozen dog food brand built on a decade of ButcherBox's meat sourcing expertise and nutritional standards. DASH is led by founder Bobby Quirk, ButcherBox's first hire and former VP of Operations. The brand applies table-grade sourcing, sous vide cooking, and pre- and postbiotic formulations to a category that has long stopped at human-grade claims. DASH recipes feature 100 percent grass-fed beef and certified organic chicken, are formulated to meet AAFCO standards for complete and balanced nutrition, and are made in small batches in USDA-certified kitchens in the United States. Available via subscription at DashDogFood.com. Better starts here.

About Voltage VC
Voltage Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm dedicated to animal health. Founded in 2026 by Benjamin Shaw and Marissa Bertorelli, the firm partners with passionate founders at the earliest stages of company development to build category-defining platforms. For more information, visit voltagevc.com.

Stephanie Levinson
SL Communication
stephanie@slevcomms.com
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook