Whatever Happened To Basepaws After Shark Tank?

On "Shark Tank" Season 10, Episode 21, entrepreneur Anna Skaya pitches a kit for owners to test their cats' DNA called Basepaws, which she claims is the first of its kind. Prior to establishing this business, Skaya headed three prior companies, the first of which she sold to Groupon.

Basepaws' proprietary product functions similarly to popular human DNA testing kits like 23andMe, providing the customer with information about their cat or cats' breed makeup and potential health issues. Obtaining a cat's DNA requires either affixing and removing an adhesive strip from its fur or swabbing the inside of its mouth to accommodate hairless cats. The company then receives the resultant sample by mail. Each kit likewise comes packaged with a cat toy.

One notable selling point Skaya highlights is the fact that rather than contracting a third party, Basepaws operates its own lab out of a rented space in Los Angeles that processes each test kit from start to finish. When she enters the "Shark Tank" studio, she hopes to receive $250,000 in exchange for 5% of the company.

After Anna Skaya presents her Basepaws DNA testing kit to the Sharks, she begins fielding various questions from the panel. Through their exchanges, she reveals that each kit costs $25 to produce and retails for $95. Over the course of the 10 months it had been on the market prior to appearing on "Shark Tank," Basepaws sold 2,500 units for a net revenue of $200,000. Its total revenue for that year she estimates will total $400,000. Furthermore, in the company's future, she foresees selling kits that can test dog and possibly even horse DNA. While two other dog DNA testing kit companies exist, she claims hers sells for half the price of the competition.

When it comes time to talk numbers, Kevin O'Leary kicks off negotiations by offering Skaya's desired $250,000 for 8.3% equity and 1.7% in advisory shares — essentially a 10% stake. Skaya claims that other investors have offered that same sum for 5% of her company, so she opens the floor up to the rest of the Sharks before responding to O'Leary's offer. Lori Greiner, Daymond John, and Mark Cuban all pass before Robert Herjavec proposes the same deal as O'Leary. Skaya then asks if Herjavec and O'Leary are interested in a joint deal. They offer to split the $250,000 and 10% between the two of them and Skaya accepts, receiving her desired investment and the advisership of two sharks.

Anna Skaya appeared again on a December 2022 episode of "Shark Tank" Season 14 for a segment updating viewers on her company's growth since 2019. Over that period of time, she expanded its personnel from just four people to more than 30. Its total revenue, meanwhile, surpassed $3.5 million. In light of Basepaws' success, a larger pet health company called Zoetis purchased it for a total of more than $50 million.

In an interview with The Story Exchange, Skaya shared that one major reason her company grew so quickly was an uptick in sales during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Right now, you're not able to go to the vet except for an emergency," she said in an attempt to explain this period of growth. "So in some way, we give peace of mind around your animal's health. And on the flip side, understanding the breed usually brings a lot of delight to people, since they usually don't know."

By that point, Basepaws had also begun offering cat coaching services for $10 a month, allowing customers access to professional veterinary advice ranging from weight management to simply getting along better with their cat. Sometimes "Shark Tank" investors change the terms of their tentative deals after cameras stopped rolling, but Skaya did ultimately receive funding from both Kevin O'Leary and Robert Herjavec, hence the company's expansion. "We consider ourselves very lucky to have gotten the money in before the pandemic really hit," she said.

Basepaws remains active to this day. The biggest change to its business model since its "Shark Tank" update that aired in 2022 is the addition of a dog testing kit to its product lineup. The Basepaws website's homepage, in fact, features cats and dogs in equal measure and refers to services it can provide for its customers' pets rather than their cats specifically.

That said, Basepaws' prices have gone up — perhaps in response to the advent of competing cat DNA products like Wisdom Panel. Its entry-level product is now an oral health test for cats that merely provides its purchaser with a snapshot of their cat's dental health and proclivity for certain diseases. This retails for $99. The flagship test that details a cat's breed and general health, meanwhile, now retails for $159. The equivalent test for dogs is available at a list price of $149, temporarily offered at a sale price of $85. Finally, Basepaws now sells what it calls whole genome sequencing for cats, still providing breed and DNA data but in apparently much greater detail. This test retails for $499.

The Basepaws website also sells a range of cat-themed merchandise in addition to hosting databases of breed and health info for cat and dog owners. Cat coaching services are no longer available.

In her 2022 "Shark Tank" update, Anna Skaya shared that she intended to remain at Basepaws even after its sale to Zoetis. According to her LinkedIn profile, she still works solely as the company's CEO. In a post she shared on LinkedIn about Basepaws' growth as of September of 2023, she stressed that the company is collaborating with an increasing number of veterinarians in an ongoing effort to educate pet owners about how to detect and prevent diseases as early as possible. On the Basepaws website, databases of cat and dog diseases and traits are coming soon, suggesting that the company is building up a larger library of free educational materials.

Of course, what Basepaws is most likely to expand is its variety dog testing kits. The company seems to have only just started offering a dog-focused product line in 2023, and given the range of cat testing kits, it stands to reason that Basepaws is building toward a similarly robust line of products for dogs too.