Despite The Woobles making headlines for scoring a handshake deal from investors Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner on the ABC (NYSE: DIS) startup pitch show “Shark Tank,” the investment never happened.
The Woobles co-founders Justine Tiu and Adrian Zhang were called “as sharky as we are” by Cuban in an episode that aired in October — one where they walked away with what looked to be a deal for $450,000 in exchange for a 6% equity stake in their Cary-based company, which makes crochet training kits featuring cute creatures and sells them on Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN).
But after the cameras stopped rolling, the deal failed to close.
In an email, Cuban confirmed the news, saying it was “their choice.”
“We wanted to close the deal,” Cuban said. “I think once they aired, they got what they wanted from Shark Tank.”
Tiu declined to comment on the situation.
A company spokeswoman said The Woobles would not be “discussing the status of the deal at this time, but want to share that the team’s experience with Shark Tank, and all of the Sharks, has been supportive and fantastic.”
Tiu did say last week that orders were going strong and that the firm was busy preparing for Black Friday.
The Woobles began with $200 worth of yarn two years ago and, according to what the pair told the show, is now on track to make $7 million this year from its crochet training kits.
The company took off on Amazon. The Woobles items can often be hard to find on the e-commerce site, especially in the wake of the "Shark Tank" appearance, which led to a surge in sales.
It’s not the first time a North Carolina company has appeared on "Shark Tank" and failed to clinch the deal after the episode aired:
These North Carolina entrepreneurs walked away from 'Shark Tank' deals
Recycled sneaker firm Remyxx, the brainchild of Charlotte entrepreneur Gary Gagnon, appeared on "Shark Tank" in 2012, securing a $50,000 investment pledge from Daymond John (pictured), though the deal reportedly fell through.
According to his LinkedIn page, the company would still go on to sell more than 4,000 pairs of shoes and score $200,000 revenue via website-direct, Amazon, affiliates, and shops. Gagnon’s LinkedIn profile now lists him as the director of business development at Microban International.
EvREwares Sticky Ties turned down Mark Cuban’s $200,000 offer to buy their company in 2015. Raleigh entrepreneurs Ellie Brown and Becca Nelson would say later that, following their episode, it was tough going for the firm, which sold tie-shaped stickers. The internet was full of comments from people skeptical about their business model. “I guess we never really anticipated what would happen from a social perception,” Brown said in 2015. The firm would later close up shop.
Raleigh’s David Cohen presented Sunscreenr, a device that detects spots you might have missed when applying sunscreen, to sharks in 2016. Cohen left the tank with an $800,000 pledge from “Mr. Wonderful” Kevin O’Leary (pictured). But the deal never ended up closing, according to what Cohen wrote in a 2017 Kickstarter pitch.
The devices had been listed for about $140 on the firm's website. But the website is now down. Founder Cohen still had its parent firm, Voxelight, on his LinkedIn profile. But he recently took a job as Staff Life Sciences Technology Manager at Plexus Corporation.
Husband and wife duo Patrick and Harriet Mills surprised the sharks in 2018, bringing in a nude male model to show how their franchised art studio Wine & Design worked. The couple landed a $500,000 from shark Kevin O'Leary, but lawsuits between Harriet Mills and co-founder Emmy Preiss show the deal fell through.
