PrettyLitter is an American pet wellness company based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, that produces lightweight crystal-based cat litter that is designed to react to a cat's urine to indicate potential health problems by changing color based on the

acidity In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...

alkalinity Alkalinity (from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is the capacity of water to resist acidification. It should not be confused with basicity, which is an absolute measurement on the pH scale. Alkalinity is the strengt ...

or the presence of blood in a cat's urine. PrettyLitter also produces health-focused cat food. In May 2021, PrettyLitter was acquired by

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmos ...

for a reported $1 billion.

History

PrettyLitter was founded in 2015 by Daniel Rotman who graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, and received his master's degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

where he was a Fellow for the

Center for Public Leadership The Center for Public Leadership (CPL) is an academic research center at Harvard University that provides teaching, research and training in the practical skills of leadership for people in government, nonprofits, and business. Located at Harva ...

. Rotman has previously worked for the U.S. Congressional Chair of the

United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affair ...

. The idea of PrettyLitter was born after the passing of Rotman's cat, Gingi, where he discovered there were no at-home tools to help detect cats' potential health issues. In 2015, PrettyLitter participated in the ''

Startup U ''Startup U'' is an American reality television series that premiered on August 11, 2015 on Freeform (then ABC Family). The show is about students in an entrepreneur mentoring program in Silicon Valley. ''Startup U'' is based on Draper University ...

'' competition led by

Tim Draper Timothy Cook Draper (born June 11, 1958) is an American venture capital investor, and founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ),

, a 7-week reality television series that premiered on

ABC Family The American cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and six different name changes) during its h ...

from August to October 2015. As one of the finalists for Startup U, Rotman managed to start PrettyLitter officially in late 2015. In August 2016, the PrettyLitter joined American

startup accelerator Startup accelerators, also known as seed accelerators, are fixed-term, cohort-based programs, that include mentorship and educational components and culminate in a public pitch event or demo day. While traditional business incubators are often ...

, ''

Gener8tor gener8tor is an American seed accelerator, startup accelerator that operates in several US cities, including Madison, Wisconsin, Madison, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis. As of March 2017, gener8tor was ranked as the top 11th st ...

'' which resulted in a growing sales size of 1300 percent within two months. In May 2021,

acquired PrettyLitter for a reported $1 billion.

References

External links

Official website
{{Mars, Incorporated Pets Companies based in Los Angeles Mars, Incorporated Manufacturing companies based in Los Angeles Animal food manufacturers Veterinary companies of the United States Cat food brands