LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson Fund backs pet genetics startup Elita’s $1.1 million pre-Seed

LaunchVic’s sidecar fund for women founders, the Alice Anderson fund, has completed a pre-Seed $1.1 million raise for Melbourne pet health startup Elita.

The commitment brings to a close the long-running raise for Elita, which is building a stem cell bank for Australian pets.

Founded by Paloma Newton and Jackson Gritching, the genetics startup, which launched publicly last December, was also backed by Startmate, Side Stage Ventures, Archangel Ventures, M8 Ventures, and Google alumni-founded XA Network in its first Australian investment.

Newton said completing the raise was “was a far longer process than I had originally anticipated” and she’s pleased to have the Alice Anderson on the cap table.

Elita enable owners to collect and store their pet’s healthiest cells during routine procedures like desexing and dental treatments, unlocking access to stem cell therapies already used around the world to treat arthritis, hip and elbow dysplasia, and other chronic conditions. 

Newton, the biotech’s CEO, came from a marketing background, but was inspired to develop Elita with Gritching, a biomedical engineer, after discovering that their dog, Edgar Allan Paws, was genetically predisposed to arthritis, something 80% of dogs have by age 8.

Since launching, Elita has expanded to collecting a fat sample any time a dog is already going under anaesthesia to store their cells for future use. Banking the cells costs a $3,899 one-off fee, plus the cost of extraction by a vet. There’s also a monthly $16.50 subscription service.

Newtown is hoping their approach the groundwork for a new kind of proactive, preventative pet healthcare. Elita’s long-term vision is to create an integrated longevity platform that combines stem cells with health data to help predict, prevent, and treat disease before symptoms appear. 

LaunchVic CEO Dr Kate Cornick said the Alice Anderson Fund was proud to be an early backer of Elita. 

“With a commercial vision grounded in personal insight, Paloma’s journey from brand strategist to biotech founder reflects the bold, cross-disciplinary thinking driving the next wave of innovation in Victoria’s life sciences sector,” she said. 

“We look forward to supporting Elita as they grow their team, scale their offering, and take their startup to the world.”