Shiv Sivakumar

Shiv Sivakumar is the Co-Founder of Omni, a UK plant-based dog nutrition company. Of Sri Lankan heritage — his family having long fed dogs on plant-based diets across generations — he was inspired to launch Omni in 2020 after getting a puppy during the Covid-19 lockdown and researching what goes into commercial pet food. His background is in finance and investment banking, and he connected with veterinarian Dr Guy Sandelowsky through a business partner matching service, complementing Sandelowsky's scientific expertise with his own commercial and financial skills.

Together, they co-founded Omni with the goal of creating nutritionally complete, veterinary-formulated plant-based dog food that is both healthier for dogs and significantly more sustainable than conventional meat-based pet food. Dogs are omnivores capable of thriving on well-formulated plant-based diets, and Omni's recipes were developed with input from world-leading veterinary nutritionists to meet full nutritional standards. The company spent a year in R&D before launching, conducting extensive palatability testing with dogs and gathering clinical data on health outcomes. Sivakumar has been instrumental in building Omni's commercial operations, distribution strategy, and investor relationships.

Omni has achieved significant scale, reaching over £2.7 million in sales in 2024 with 123% year-on-year growth, and now serves more than 30,000 customers delivering over five million meals globally. The company has expanded into major European markets including Germany, and has received investment backing from VC firms from its early stages. In early 2026, Sivakumar and Sandelowsky appeared on BBC Dragons' Den, securing investment from Deborah Meaden and Steven Bartlett at a valuation of approximately £3 million — one of the highest-profile moments for the plant-based pet food category in the UK.