Despite The Woobles making headlines for scoring a handshake deal from investors Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner on the ABC 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.”
Woobles co-founder 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 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, and 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.