what is the story of the woman who took cat dna and sold it shark tank

The woman was Anna Skaya , founder of Basepaws, a company that sold cat DNA test kits and pitched it on Shark Tank. Her story is basically a niche startup success: the idea sounded quirky at first, but it turned into a serious pet-genetics business and later led to a major exit.

What happened

Anna Skaya appeared on Shark Tank with a cat DNA testing kit priced around $29, aiming to help owners learn about breed mix, health risks, and other genetic traits. Kevin O’Leary has since said he initially thought it was a bad idea, but he invested anyway after her persistence and the company’s data potential became clear.

Why it worked

The product was not really about the kit alone; it was about the data Basepaws collected from thousands of cats. That database helped give the business value beyond one-off sales, which is why the company ultimately became attractive to a larger buyer.

Outcome

Reports say Basepaws later sold to Zoetis, the animal health company, turning the Shark Tank pitch into a real business win. In other words, the “cat DNA” pitch that sounded odd on TV became a case study in how a narrow idea can scale if the underlying data is valuable.

TL;DR

It was Anna Skaya and Basepaws : a cat DNA testing startup that got mocked as unusual, won a Shark Tank deal, and later sold after proving the data behind it was worth much more than the kit itself.