Fortesan

About Fortesan

In the late 1990s, Vittorio Pautassi combined his entrepreneurial drive and a passion for animals to launch Fortesan in Italy. The company started as a specialized retailer for pet food and accessories, quickly establishing a network of stores. Pautassi’s vision was to offer a comprehensive range of products, including developing in-house brands like Vividog and Vivicat, which would come to represent a significant portion of sales. The company grew steadily, becoming the fourth-largest pet store chain in Italy with dozens of locations, primarily in the country's northwest. Fortesan successfully operated an e-commerce channel alongside its physical stores, adapting to the changing retail landscape. This hybrid approach and strong own-brand strategy caught the attention of investors. A pivotal moment arrived in 2016 when Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners acquired a significant minority stake, investing €15 million to fuel an ambitious expansion plan. This set the stage for the next chapter. In late 2017, an agreement was reached for Fortesan to be acquired by its larger competitor, Arcaplanet, which was backed by the private equity firm Permira. The combination created a dominant force in the Italian pet care market, merging Fortesan’s 69 stores with Arcaplanet’s 210 to form a group with nearly 280 locations.