S15.E16: Funky Mello; Mella Pet Care; Da Vinci Eye; Fila Manila

[CrazyInAlabama]

Sharks-Daniel Lubetzky (KIND bars), Mark, Daymond, Kevin, Lori

Funky Mellow-a vegan marshmallow crème, $50,000 for 15%. Marshmallow crème, gluten free, vegan.  Use as an ice cream toping.   Vanilla, Strawberry, and Cookies & Cream flavors.  It’s made from Chickpea liquid, and lots of sugar.  Some use it as coffee creamer, in hot chocolate.    The Sharks love the taste.  $100,000 in sales last year, lost $70,000.    In Whole Foods, Sprouts, a total of 20 stores.   Margins are decent.  Mark asks if they can do a marshmallow shape.  Kevin is out.  Daymond says $50000 for 15%. 

Daymond makes the deal at 15% for $50,000.

Mella Pet Care-a non-invasive digital pet thermometer, $250,000 for 2.5%.  Smart thermometer in the dog or cat armpit.   Send info to vet through the app.  They have a weight sensor too.  I could do without the song and dance routine.  I wonder if Kevin will go for this?  $160,000 in sales, in 1,000 vet clinics in 14 months.  Direct to vet, and direct to consumer.   Margins are fantastic.   I bet they sell a lot of the product after the show appearance.     I think a deal with Kevin and his pet database would be very successful in a partnership.   Lori is out, too early for her.   Kevin is out. Daymond is out.  The sellers claim there are no competitors.  Mark offers $250,000 for 6%.     Daniel is out.

Mark makes the deal 6% equity and maybe advisory shares, $250,000.

Da Vinci Eye- AR Drawing tools, a drawing app that utilizes augmented reality.  $350,000 for 5%.   Place your phone over the paper, projects the picture on your paper, and  you trace it.  They also have “mural maker” for wall size drawings.       He launched the app in 2016, nothing until 2020, and the pandemic gave him time to do work.  By June 2020 $450,000 in sales.  They were the top 2 paid app in January 2021.   $890k 2021, and switched to a subscription model and in 2023 $1.1 million.     $1.6 for 2024 estimated.   Daymond is out.   Customer acquisition costs are tiny.     Mark is out, numbers don’t add up.  Lori is out.   Daniel is out, the seller is driving the Sharks away.    Kevin is out.  I bet his customer boost goes through the roof from being on the show.  Seller needed a partner to present the app, and someone to market it.    He's an inventor, but not an entrepreneur. 

No Deal.

Fila Manila- Filipino products, a line of Filipino-American sauces.   $250,000 for 5% . Filipinos are the third largest demographic Asian group in the U.S.    Three product lines.  Banana Ketchup, Chicken Adobo, Kare-Kare sauce.  Ube purple yam spread.   Adobo and Kare-Kare are added to the protein you want to use.   2022 $400,000 sales, 2023 $800,000 projected, changed to non-glass containers.   Margins are good.  Daniel thinks the valuation is too big.   The company has 96% market share of the Filipino market in the U.S.  

They’re in Whole Foods, online is 10% mostly Amazon.   Kevin says sales suck. I think appearing on the show will be fantastic for the company.   Lori is out, she doesn’t know about Filipino food.  Mark is out.  Daymond is out.   Kevin is out because of the valuation.    Daniel says 20% for $250,000. Seller offers Kevin a royalty golden ticket.   Kevin then offers $250,000 for 10% and a royalty of 5 to 8% of sales, until he earns $500,000 back.  Daniel won’t change his offer, 20% for $250,000 with an option for more stock.  (I hope someone introduced Lori to Filipino food after the filming, it's really good). 

Deal with Daniel.

 

Update:  Hello Prenup, Kevin and a guest Shark, Rohan. In two years, now $3 million in sales.   Kevin officiated at a wedding sponsored by the company.

Iconic Moment:  Ionic Ear, implantable blue tooth device into the human ear.  Surgically implanted in humans.   Daymond, Robert, and Kevin were stunned by the idea. This was a horrifying pitch for a product.    I bet it will someday happen too.  No deal. 

Edited March 3 by CrazyInAlabama

[hifihifi]

THe last 3 presentations were the worst 3 I've ever seen on Shark Tank but incredibly 2 of them still got deals. I wouldn't be surprised if the deal for the Dog thermometers etc. falls through. I would not want to work with those 3. How instead of letting a Shark ask a question & say wait so the dude can give a dumb unecessary rap song was the dumbest thing I've ever witnessed on Shark Tank. I really will be surprised if this deal goes through.

The art presentation was terrible & he clearly didn't practice ahead of time. I readlly saw nothing unique about his product as essentially its a trace the image art set which Daniel did no favors for.

The last presentation didn't show what the plans were to get more revenue & the valuation lke most of these Shark Tank valuations made no sense.

I also didn't like the "Next Week" on Shark Tank as it really didn't show what products/services were going to be on.

Edited March 2 by hifihifi

[bilgistic]

As much as I love my cats, I don't get why I should spend $150 on a thermometer and scale for them. I know one's a little chonky, but she runs around constantly when she's awake. For what it's worth, our vet has been taking their temperature in their ears for years. How is the vet's thermometer different from a baby thermometer?

There are vegan marshmallows on the market already. They are pricey and hard to find, but they exist. I'm a vegetarian, and marshmallows are one of few things I miss from my omnivore days.

[eel2178]

26 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

As much as I love my cats, I don't get why I should spend $150 on a thermometer and scale for them.

To take an axillary temperature on a human, you need to have the thermometer against the skin with no obstructions. How can using it on an animal with fur be accurate?

Also, they began their pitch with "what if you went to the doctor in pain and weren't able to tell him?"

Neither of their products had anything to do with assessing pain in animals. It was all objective data, not subjective which is necessary for pain assessment.

I'm The Crazy Cat Lady, and I didn't see a use for their products.

[eel2178]

20 hours ago, hifihifi said:

The art presentation was terrible & he clearly didn't practice ahead of time. I readlly saw nothing unique about his product as essentially its a trace the image art set which Daniel did no favors for.

Didn't we see the same thing a few seasons back that did the exact same thing without the cell phone? I was really getting a sense of de ja vu.

His subscription model has only generated 55,000 customers. He needs to go back to the drawing board (pun intended).

[DEL901]

Did anyone else think the name FunkyMello was a bad name?   It doesn’t seem, to me, to be appealing.  Funky isn’t generally a good thing with regard to taste.  

[Quickbeam]

An axillary temp in humans is notoriously inaccurate, I can’t imagine the difficulty in getting a true reading through fur. 

Marshmallows are a challenge to make to get the right bite and mouth feel. You can get some solidity with seaweed extracts but it’s not quite the same. I was not surprised they stuck with a creme form, it’s easier to do correctly. 

There are a lot of drawing apps out there. I’ve tried a few but end up dropping them because of the high cost of subscribing. And the guy was kind of a tool. 
 

[Madding crowd]

I didn’t get the animal device people at all. Why were they talking about gauging an animal’s pain when their devices had nothing to do with that? And vets aren’t going to care about your ability to send them a week or months worth of data on your pet’s temperature or weight. They don’t have time to look at that. Doctors for humans wouldn’t care about a week of temperatures either. The drawing thing has been on the show before, I’m surprised the judges didn’t mention it. 

[DrSpaceman73]

On 3/2/2024 at 9:42 PM, eel2178 said:

Didn't we see the same thing a few seasons back that did the exact same thing without the cell phone? I was really getting a sense of de ja vu.

His subscription model has only generated 55,000 customers. He needs to go back to the drawing board (pun intended).

Yes we did exact same thing but without the phone. I thought the same thing. 

None of those Filipino food products sounded appealing. If I had a chance ti try them maybe but otherwise no way I'm buying, what was it, banana ketchup?  No thanks. 

[bilgistic]

Bananas make me nauseated, and I find them gross in general, so the thought of banana ketchup turned my stomach.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I found this about banana ketchup, apparently it doesn't taste like bananas, but it's very sweet, and there are spicy versions too:

"So how does it taste? Unsurprisingly, banana ketchup tastes very similar to tomato ketchup but a lot sweeter. The texture and flavor are both reminiscent of sweet and sour sauce. I tried both Jufran Brand Banana Sauce in original flavor and Hot and Spicy on hot dogs, french fries, and Filipino spaghetti."

[eel2178]

28 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

"So how does it taste? Unsurprisingly, banana ketchup tastes very similar to tomato ketchup but a lot sweeter. 

I think ketchup is too sweet to begin with. I always cut it with mayo for a more balanced flavor.

I'm definitely not going to eat something that is sweeter than what I already find too sweet.