New Delhi, Jan. 22 -- Direct-to-consumer (D2C) pet care brands are leaning on subscription models to lock in customers, betting that repeat purchases can help them counter the scale and distribution advantage of India's largest packaged consumer goods players as the niche segment heats up.

"Nearly 40% of our repeat customers today come through the subscription model, which tells us how effective it has been in driving predictable demand," said Kartikeya Gupta, co-founder of natural cat food brand Smylo, which raised Rs.75 lakh on business reality show Shark Tank India on 15 January from Anupam Mittal, Kunal Bahl, and Varun Alagh, giving up 1% equity along with advisory shares, valuing it at about Rs.75 crore.

At the consumer level, subs...