Featured small business Strapsicle achieved a milestone as they secured an investment of $250,000 through the programme Shark Tank Australia.
Strapsicle’s founders Lou Rice and Ben Stainlay presented their product on the show’s first episode for season six, a simple but innovative solution designed to allow Kindle users to read in comfort and prevent them from accidentally dropping their devices.
“I have always watched Shark Tank, in awe of the business founders brave enough to put themselves and their business out there and thought to myself there is no way I could do that. So, when the opportunity arose less than two years into our business, I was honestly a bit reluctant. But being able to put our business on the world stage, get the attention of some of the biggest names in business, and secure some dollars to help us level up production and grow our team, was an opportunity too big to pass on,” said Rice.
Since its launch in June 2022, Strapsicle now has a value of $2.5 million. In their first year of business, Strapsicle sold over $200,000 worth of straps and in their second year, over $1.5 million, a $750 per cent increase, with their products sold not only across the country but globally as well.
For their pitch, Rice and Stainlay shared that there are almost one billion e-readers in the world and they intend to tap into a portion of that global market. Their pitch sought for a $250,000 investment in return for a 10 per cent share. Four of the five judges offered $250,000 for at least a 20 per cent share before The Oodie founder Davie Fogarty and US Shark Tank veteran Robert Herjavec joined forces to secure a 22.5 per cent stake in the business for $250,000.
“It was pretty surreal to see four of the sharks fighting it out for a stake in the business. We didn’t ever anticipate that was going to happen. But we had agreed that we really wanted Davie and Robert to invest, so we were so happy when we turned around to see they had agreed to partner up for us,” said Rice.
