On this season of “Shark Tank,” the Sharks have invested $16.8 million in the business ideas pitched to them by aspiring entrepreneurs — but what happens after they close the deal?
As it does each week, Friday’s season finale (9 p.m.) of the ABC series briefly updates viewers on several businesses funded in Season Five — including RuckPack energy shots (approaching $500,000 in revenue), CordaRoy’s sleepers ($3 million), Cousins Maine Lobster food trucks ($3.5 million) and Fiber Fix adhesive tapes ($6 million).
Call it the “Shark Tank” effect.
“It has the most unique and powerful platform in the world, not just in investing but as an entertainment platform,” Breathometer CEO Charles Michael Yim, a past Shark Tank contestant, tells The Post. “You don’t get just an investment, you get millions of dollars in marketing exposure. That’s something no other VC [venture capital] in the world can do.”
Yim’s company — an iPhone-based Breathalyzer — made “Shark Tank” history this season by becoming the first product in which all five Sharks invested.
Since then, Breathometer has grown from $140,000 worth of pre-orders to $10-12 million in projected revenue for 2014. It’s now available through BestBuy.com and Walmart.com, and is looking to leverage its technology for other medical applications.
Scrub Daddy, featured on Season Four, stands as the most successful product in “Shark Tank” history. The smiling sponges had done about $100,000 in sales and were sold in five Philadelphia-area supermarkets before getting an investment from Shark Lori Greiner.
In 2014, the company is projecting sales of $25-30 million and its product is available in nearly every major retail chain, from Walmart to Bed Bath & Beyond.
And it’s not just profit for business owners and the Sharks — the investments are also creating jobs. Scrub Daddy has grown to 30 employees and just opened a new headquarters. Breathometer went from three employees to 12, and will have 30 to 50 workers by the end of the year.
“[Shark Tank] has created this entire exponential creation of jobs and growth and economy,” says Scrub Daddy CEO Aaron Krause.
One more example of the financial marketplace power of “Shark Tank”: the next-day impact on Wicked Good Cupcakes. Company co-founder Tracey Noonan got 5,000 e-mails the day after her episode aired and subsequently saw a $250,000 bump in sales. Now her cupcakes-in-jars business is projected to bring in $3 million in 2014, with investor Kevin O’Leary calling it his best “Shark Tank” deal ever.
Noonan plans on expanding the business with cheesecake in jars next month and pies in jars this fall.
“Without ‘Shark Tank’ it would have taken us so much longer to develop all that,” she says.
“The influx of cash is just amazing and so helpful.”