The Story Behind the World’s Richest Cat and How It Got a Fortune
The story starts in 2010, when Varisiri “Pookie” Mathachittiphan brought home a five-month-old Siamese-tabby mix from a shelter in California. She named her Nala, and at the time, there was nothing unusual about it. Just a young cat settling into a new home.
A couple of years later, in 2012, Pookie set up an Instagram account to share Nala’s photos with friends. What made it work was how she wrote the posts. They were simple, but they felt like Nala was speaking directly to people. That gave the account a clear personality, and more people started following along as it grew.
Attention Turns Into Influence
By 2017, Nala’s account had grown into something much bigger than a personal page. Forbes listed her among the top pet influencers, which showed brands were already paying attention. A few years later, the growth reached a milestone that locked in her status. In May 2020, Guinness World Records verified Nala as the most-followed cat on Instagram, with over 4.3 million followers at the time. The number has since hovered between 4.4 and 5 million across different reports.
That kind of reach brought more than visibility. Brands started to see value in access to that audience. Sponsored posts followed, with estimates placing earnings around $15,000 per post. The page had crossed into a space where attention could be sold. Still, more was to come after this phase.
Turning a Social Media Star Into a Business
Image via iStockphoto/Nils Jacobi
Growth didn’t stall after the early success. The account moved beyond sponsored posts and started building real products around the audience.
It began with small steps. Merchandise came first, then a book in 2020, Living Your Best Life According to Nala Cat, published by Penguin Random House. It kept the same tone people were already familiar with, just in a different format.
The bigger move was Love Nala, a premium cat food brand tied to the account. It raised about $12 million from investors, which made it possible to enter retail. At that stage, the Instagram page wasn’t the main product anymore. It was driving a business built around it.
Breaking Down the $100 Million Figure
Reports often place Nala’s net worth at around $100 million. The number appears across multiple outlets, though it does not represent a simple bank balance. It reflects brand value, business ownership, projected earnings, and intellectual property tied to the name.
The income streams behind that figure are layered. Social media advertising plays a role alongside merchandise, partnerships, publishing, and product sales through Love Nala. Each piece builds on the same foundation: a large and engaged audience.
Consistency is crucial here. More than 7,000 Instagram posts show how much work went into maintaining that audience over time. Pookie has described managing the account as a full-time job, which explains why the growth never stalled.