When the lights dim and the entrepreneurs strut toward an accomplished panel of investors on ABC’s "Shark Tank" on Friday night, two Colorado companies will make their pitch for funding.
Virtual wedding startup Wedfuly and laundry innovator Wad-Free will both appear on the Nov. 5 episode to introduce their companies to the sharks. The panel of investors includes Mark Cuban, Kevin O’Leary, Daymond John, Lori Greiner and Robert Herjavec.
Denver-based Wedfuly launched in 2017 to offer virtual wedding planning services to engaged couples. When the pandemic hit and money got tight, founder and CEO Caroline Creidenberg made a pivot, taking the company into the virtual wedding space.
The company did its first virtual wedding in March and partnered early on with Zoom on the streaming side. A month later, Creidenberg realized the magnitude of the opportunity in front of her.
“In April of 2020, the lightbulb went off for me that this actually solves a lot more issues than just pandemic-related wedding issues,” she said.
From there, Wedfuly built out its software platform and found a swell of interest from couples. To date, the company has worked with nearly 1,000 couples to share weddings with 200,000 guests from around the world.
The company offers comprehensive virtual wedding services, from emceeing the event to handling multimedia elements and guest management. Wedfuly has also started offering livestream options at in-person weddings to allow guests to attend the wedding even if they aren’t physically there.
Wedfuly will be joined by Wad-Free founder Cyndi Bray in Friday’s "Shark Tank" episode.
Despite having a background in advertising and graphic design, Bray launched the laundry-focused startup during the pandemic as a solution to a problem that had plagued her. After years of watching her bed sheets bunch up when placed in the washer or dryer, Bray took matters into her own hands and created Wad-Free for Bed Sheets.
The concept for the product is straightforward, as users are instructed to place each of the corners of their sheets into the small tabs. From there, Bray says the product cleans sheets better, dries them quicker and eliminates the possibility of bunching or twisting.
Bray has long been a fan of "Shark Tank" and said the sharks were like hidden mentors for her along her entrepreneurial journey. When she appears on the screen on Friday night, it will be a culmination of a life full of ideas for Bray.
“I’ve had a lot of ideas in my life that I’ve never acted on. I’ve gone so far as writing business plans, but never acted on them,” she said. “If you had told me that two years ago [I’d appear on "Shark Tank"] I wouldn’t have thought it was that hairbrained of an idea, I felt like I’ve had something like this in me.”
