British-Pakistani entrepreneur Amman Ahmed has sold his company Music For Pets for a reported eight-figure sum. US music firm Create Music Group closed the deal in 2023 and now owns what media outlets call “Petflix.” Ahmed stayed on as President of Music For Pets and Vice President of Business Development.
Ahmed founded ‘Music For Pets’ in 2017 with co-founder Ricardo Henriquez using just £1,000 of his own savings. In fact, the idea came after Henriquez tested calming music on his anxious dog Zuki in El Salvador. As a result, they built a library of relaxing music and video content for dogs and cats. Its YouTube channels RelaxMyDog and RelaxMyCat now have a combined 4.8 million subscribers. The channels also have over one billion streams across platforms.
Before Music For Pets, Ahmed ran Rormix, a music video app that attracted 150,000 monthly users and raised £250,000. However, he wound down that venture after realizing the fundraising process distracted him from the product. Therefore, he built Music For Pets entirely without outside investment.
The bootstrapped approach clearly paid off. The company reached over 50 million pets worldwide, with audiences streaming more than 12 million hours of content each month. Furthermore, Music For Pets distributed content on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku. Revenue came from advertising, streaming royalties, and monthly subscriptions. Meanwhile, Create Music Group plans to invest an additional $10 million over 36 months to expand the brand.
Since the exit, Ahmed has continued creating music for animals. He produced Dreaming Dog, a 13-track album with Grammy-winning producer ANTAEUS that uses reggae to calm dogs. In addition, he joined the Recording Academy as a voting member and attended the Grammys with his father. Also, he works as an angel investor and mentor at Abbey Road Studios.
Born and raised in Armley, Leeds, Ahmed later based himself in Manchester. Notably, he built Music For Pets into a global brand with just £5,000 in total marketing spend. His journey offers a clear example of a bootstrapped British-Pakistani founder achieving a high-value international exit.