How two marketers built India’s most caring home-grooming experience for pets

In Mumbai, two former FMCG marketers have swapped brand war rooms for living rooms full of wagging tails.

Bhao Bhao, founded by Aditi Sanganeria and Anshika Maheshwari, is a pet grooming company built on an insight many pet parents know too well: grooming is not a luxury spa day; it’s essential care.

Yet for years, the experience has been stressful – long drives, harsh handling, and salons that treat pets as objects to be processed, not family members.

Aditi, a pet parent for over a decade, felt this acutely. Her dog’s anxious behaviour before and after grooming sessions told her something was broken.

Anshika, her colleague and friend, shared both the professional toolkit and the entrepreneurial itch. Between them, they had rich experience across marketing, consumer behaviour, and brand building at companies like P&G and Mondelez.

What began as an emotional response – “there has to be a better way” – soon turned into a structured business thesis: home-based grooming that puts comfort and trust at the centre.

Within a month, both founders quit their corporate jobs and pooled their savings to launch Bhao Bhao. They quickly discovered that the biggest bottleneck wasn’t demand; pet parents were more than ready for a gentler alternative. The real challenge was supply. Grooming in India was largely unorganised – skilled hands existed, but emotional understanding of animals was rare.

Bhao Bhao’s answer was to build its own community of groomers, selected not just for technical skill but for empathy. Training became non-negotiable. Behaviourists and coaches were brought in to teach temperament reading and stress reduction. One of the brand’s signature practices is the “10-minute bond rule” – every groomer spends the first few minutes simply connecting with the pet before any tools come out.

Operationally, Bhao Bhao has chosen discipline over hyper-growth. Every booking is structured to be profitable at the unit level – a rarity in the on-demand economy. The company is not trying to blitzscale across cities at any cost; it is trying to build something that can last, for both pets and the humans who care for them.

The deeper mission goes beyond grooming. For Aditi and Anshika, it is about reshaping what “care” means in India’s fast-growing pet ecosystem.
How do you keep culture and quality intact as you expand to new cities? Can tech support this experience without diluting the human bond that makes Bhao Bhao different?

The complete Bhao Bhao story is part of The Indian Dream – 3rd Edition under Consumer Service Tech.