Founder Team: Ellmar, Christina and Edna
1. Can you tell us a bit about yourselves?
Hi! We are Christina and Ellmar from Holy Health for Pets. Holy Health has been on the market since April 2020 and develops natural supplements for dogs and cats. Our powders and drops support the joints of our four-legged friends and can be used for acute cases as well as for prevention.
About us
Christina worked in fashion agencies for several years before becoming self-employed.
In Cologne, she founded an online rental company for designer handbags and spent 1 year in the Accelerator. She also received a start-up grant from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
She and Ellmar know each other from a pitch event and decided to start Holy Health together and revolutionise the pet industry.
Ellmar worked in Frankfurt stock trading for a few years after his finance studies before he got into the startup scene.
For more than 2 years he got various insights into different early stage startups and evaluated and explored them himself for the company builder Hanse Ventures.
2. Why did you decide to found Holy Health for Pets? How did you get started?
We met at a startup event in Hamburg and came across the topic of dog health rather by chance.
A few years ago, Ellmar had the painful experience of having to put his dog to sleep due to severe arthritis, and for Christina, her dog Edna is her everything. This led to a lively discussion about how we can support our dogs through nutrition to live a long and healthy life.
The idea for Holy Health was born. Since joint problems are one of the most widespread ailments that are often recognised and treated too late, we decided to develop the first products for this.
3. What is the vision behind Holy Health for Pets?
We want to set new standards in the field of dog and cat health.
On one hand, this means we develop products that actually work and contain only the best ingredients. On the other hand, we want to maintain a very close connection to our customers, expand our community, have fun and do good together.
4. What differentiates you from other providers?
We are certainly characterised by the extremely close connection to our customers and followers.
5. What do you like most about your work?
The exchange with our customers and the many feedbacks on the effectiveness of our product, some of which are really emotional and give us goose bumps. To read that a doggie is significantly better after consuming our products is simply undescribable.
6. Please tell us a bit about the topic Natural Supplements. Why do you recommend them to dog owners?
2 out of 3 dogs already have joint problems or will get them in the course of their lives. That's an incredibly large percentage! To make it worse, only about half of the owners know about the suffering of their joints, as dogs are evolutionary masters at hiding their pain - for fear of being expelled from their "pack". This is where we come in.
Our first step is to educate dog owners and make them aware of this problem. Because if Arthritis, for example, is recognised at an early stage, the course of this disease can be significantly influenced.
7. Can you tell us a bit about the dog rescue process?
We want to use Holy Health to give dogs who are less fortunate than ours and live on the streets in Romania or Greece, for example, a slightly better life.
We started our first fundraising campaign together with the influencer @MichivonWant just one month after our launch and were able to collect 785€. In the meantime, together with the help of @Vanezia_Blum & @Vanessa.Tamkan, we were able to multiply this amount twentyfold and donate it to various dog protection organisations.
The money is used to build shelters, provide food, perform castrations and place dogs in Germany. We have a lot planned for 2021 and appreciate any support. 😊
8. Do you have pets? Can you tell us a bit about Edna?
Edna is Christina's dog - she will be 6 years old, has a pronounced thick skull, but an insanely sweet character, loves water, has a weakness for crawling on her belly and behind her ears, is addicted to oversized sticks, has incredible patience, even when scrounging food, hears very well when she wants to, and provides a lot of good humour in the office.
And she is Holy Health's first client. 😉 👇
9. What is your favourite place for dog-walking with Edna in Hamburg?
Elbstrand (always a dream for Edna the water rat), Harburger Berge & Fischbeker Heide
10. Which saying best describes your life-motto?
Neither of us are fans of motivational slogans. When in doubt, we'll take this one:
“Learn a lesson from your dog - kick some grass over that shit and move on.”
- Ellmar and Christina Holy Health for Pets Founders
11. Are there any accounts, books or blogs that you recommend to animal lovers and pet owners?
Definitely check these Instagram accounts:
@Vanezia_Blum & @SavetheDogsinKallikratia,
by @Vanessa.Tamkan & @Hundegarten_Serres
und by @MichivonWant & @MAP_Strassennasen.
What these women do in animal protection is really great!
12. Do you have any special plans for Holy Health for Pets this year (2021)?
The biggest change will happen directly in February, because from then on we will appear under a new name. You will then find us under "people who kaer".
We have a lot planned for this year - in terms of products, our team and our fundraising projects, there will be a lot of news!
13. Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?
5 years are really light years away for us right now, so this question is very difficult to answer. First of all, we are looking forward to meeting as many of our customers as possible in person again soon. Of course, it would be a dream if every dog owner had a supplement from us in their cupboard within the next 5 years!
14. What is the best advice you can give to pet owners?
We believe that every pet owner knows, understands and loves their pet best - so there are no tips from us. 😉 You guys are doing great and together we can still achieve so much to help as many dogs as possible! And don't forget your doggie's joints. 😉
#naturalsupplements #jointproblems #doghealth #dogstartup #founderstory #holyhealth #petnutrition #pawempowerment #dogrescue #plasticfree #pawsome
We thank Christina Biermann and Ellmar Jungschaffer for the interview.
You can find more information here:
This Blog is using Storyliner