Austin, Texas-based grief wellness company Eterneva is a successful startup backed by business mogul Mark Cuban that has found its niche. Eterneva helps celebrate remarkable people and pets by turning their ashes into diamonds using a complex and intricate process that results in these soulful remembrances. Customers are involved in every stage of the process, which unfolds over months as the bereaved work through the stages of their grief. They can personalize the diamond’s size, color, and cut and can even add inscriptions to serve as a meaningful connection to the loved ones they left behind.
The service, however, is no longer just for deceased loved ones and pets but is also applicable to a number of types of loss or celebration. One couple made a gem for an engagement ring using the carbon in the strands of their hair. A terminally ill client designed their own diamond with their family before they died. Eterneva is finding many ways to help people commemorate the moments, places, and loved ones that are sacred to them.
Creating Eterneva
Adelle Archer and her Eterneva co-founder Garrett Ozar stumbled onto this unique idea entirely by accident. They were already well versed in the art of lab-grown diamonds and were in the early stages of launching a new company of their own. The concept was to target this up-and-coming niche market when tragedy struck. Archer and Ozar were consulting with a diamond scientist for their business when Archer’s business mentor and close friend, Tracey Kaufman, tragically lost her battle with cancer. The Kaufman family gave Adelle some of Tracey’s ashes as a keepsake of her long-time confidant, but she didn’t know what to do with them. The diamond scientist with whom Archer and Ozar were working mentioned that it was possible to create diamonds from the carbon in human ashes, and that’s when the idea for Eterneva was born.
To date, the company has served more than 500 customers with its truly unique memorial diamond and legacy project and has begun working with local funeral homes to offer its services across the country. By taking the ashes of loved ones and creating beautiful diamonds, Eterneva offers more personalized memorial options for the bereaved. Eterneva’s latest partnership with Phaneuf Funeral Homes & Crematorium will continue to move the grief wellness industry toward a more high-tech and contemporary vision.
“Phaneuf Homes is one of the most progressive and forward-thinking funeral homes in the industry, so we’re honored to partner with them and serve families in the most personalized, meaningful, and digital-first way possible,” says Archer, the co-founder and CEO of Eterneva. “Both of our companies aim to ensure that the lives of extraordinary loved ones are done justice and families are uplifted on their grief-wellness journey.”
Eterneva and Phaneuf are both dedicated to bringing technology and innovation to the death care and grief space. This partnership aims to give the bereaved in New Hampshire and Vermont, where Phaneuf’s community of families resides, a more personalized grief journey and a new memorial option in the form of Eterneva’s memorial diamond and legacy project.
“I am very excited about our affinity relationship with Eterneva,” says Arthur “Buddy” Phaneuf, the president of Phaneuf Funeral Homes & Crematorium. “They are on point with their customer engagement, and with our commitment to fanatic levels of customer service, I know we will provide a new and exciting value-added proposition to our client families.”
Phaneuf’s History In The Industry
Phaneuf Funeral Homes & Crematorium has been serving the public for more than 100 years. Founded in 1906, it is one of the oldest continually owned family funeral homes in New Hampshire and New England and has grown to become the largest provider of funeral and cremation services in the region. Fourth-generation family businesses are rare, and its continued service stands as a testament to the Phaneuf family’s long and proud history of providing caring, compassionate service during people’s most difficult times. The business has worked hard to ensure that it is well-positioned for the long term by providing a consistently world-class experience to its client families.
One of the more prominent characteristics of Phaneuf Funeral Homes & Crematorium is that it stands on the forefront of a modern movement that seeks to re-think how Americans respond to loss. The new innovations in burial practices that Phaneuf Funeral Homes & Crematorium promotes, for example, are rooted in more eco-friendly approaches to burial. In fact, the company openly promotes sustainable and eco-friendly practices wherever possible, which is not often true of the industry. Phaneuf was the first New Hampshire funeral home to partner with the Green Burial Council to create its eco-friendly burial package. Cremation is also growing in popularity across the country, and cremation services do result in the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In response to this issue, Phaneuf Funeral Homes & Crematorium became the first funeral home in New Hampshire and Vermont to take steps to offset its carbon footprint from the cremation process
“This is a win-win situation. By offsetting our own carbon footprint, we can help save lives,” says Phaneuf. “Going green is a priority for Phaneuf and The Cremation Society. We are aware that cremation services use natural gas and have CO2 emissions, and we want to counteract that effect on the environment and work toward becoming carbon neutral.”
Eterneva’s ventures with Phaneuf Funeral Homes mark the company’s second partnership, following the establishment of its recent partnership with Schoedinger Funeral Home and Cremation services partnership in Columbus, Ohio. As an advocate of putting science and technology at the forefront of everything it does, Eterneva seeks partners who share the same core beliefs that innovation can help people live happier lives and find closure, all through increasingly sustainable practices.
