— This story has been updated with comments and details provided by Parting Stone founder and CEO Justin Crowe.
Parting Stone has grown fast. Now, it's taking production of its death memorialization technology across the Pacific.
The Santa Fe startup today announced plans to open a laboratory in Australia next year. It's Parting Stone's first international expansion and comes on the heels of other recent growth for the startup, including expanding into veterinary clinics and investment from the state.
The lab — called Parting Stone Australia — comes through a partnership with InvoCare, a funeral services company based in Sydney that also has operations in New Zealand and Singapore. The Australia lab will be located in Newcastle, New South Wales and is set to open in late 2023, according to a news release from Parting Stone.
"Australia is one of the most forward-thinking countries in terms of death care," said Justin Crowe, Parting Stone's founder and CEO. "We've always been interested in that market."
InvoCare will provide Parting Stone with expertise in how to design a family-focused death care model, Crowe said. He wants to use InvoCare's model to continue growing Parting Stone's market share in the U.S.
The size of Parting Stone's Australian lab will be determined by the company's needs in that market, Crowe said. Because Australia has a comparably smaller death care market than the U.S., he said that Parting Stone will be able to reach market saturation there faster.
Besides the lab partnership, InvoCare also invested $1 million in Parting Stone, money that the New Mexico company plans to use to boost its marketing and sales teams, according to the release. Crowe said that Parting Stone has hired one new sales position and two new marketing positions. The company also has a job opening for a marketing director.
Parting Stone makes solidified remains from the ashes of deceased people or pets. The company turns 100% of the ashes into stones that take a variety of sizes, shapes and colors.
Crowe founded the company in 2019 after finding that people would often keep the ashes of their deceased loved ones in storage areas like basements or garages. Making stones from the ashes allows people to form a closer connection to their dearly deceased.
A grant allowed Parting Stone to develop the technology at Los Alamos National Laboratories. It's since opened an 8,000 square foot lab space in Santa Fe and increased monthly production by over 150% since January 2022.
