“Doesn’t even get me interested:” When Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary backed out from placing an offer to Toymail’s founder

On Shark Tank season 8 episode 17, Toymail's founder Gauri Nanda was seeking $250k for 2.5% equity of her business. Gauri pitched her business idea, which was to ensure a secure way for parents and children to send voicemails to one another through a plush toy.

During her pitch, the founder shared that she raised $83,341 with a Kickstarter campaign and that Amazon and Verizon had invested a total of $1.6 million in her products. Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary was impressed by the business idea and praised Gauri for her skills but decided to back out from placing an offer.

Kevin stated that the low equity was the major reason he wasn't ready to place an offer, as two and a half percent was too low for him. He said:

"So look having seen dozens of alterations of plush toys I'm impressed I really am. but it leaves nothing I mean I would need five clockies to get out of bed for 2 and a half percent like it just doesn't even get me interested, I'm out."

Toymail's founder Gauri Nanda secured a deal with Shark Tank investors Chris Sacca and Lori Greiner

The Shark Tank investors were impressed by Gauri's products and that it had gathered attention from Amazon. The main aspect of the product was to ensure reliable communication between children and parents through a Wi-Fi-enabled device that is present inside the plush toys.

Guest shark Chris Sacca was the first one to make an offer of $400,000 for 5% equity after pointing out that Gauri's valuation was too high. He said:

"I think you're uniquely qualified to take this on the part, what I don't like about it is this valuation I think for something this early without a ton of sales yet it's hard right off the bat to come out at 10 million bucks. And so with all that said I do wanna make you an offer."

Then, Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban decided to offer $500,000 for 5%, explaining how he would help Gauri scale her brand further through his content assets. Cuban explained:

"But at some point over the next couple of years if there's children's content or relevant content that I come through because I have a billion dollars in content assets whether it's movies teams whatever it maybe there's a significant value there."

Sacca was quick to intervene and mentioned that Cuban didn't have much experience for a deal like this, but Lori did. According to Sacca, if Cuban had an idea, "it would die of loneliness" but Lori had the expertise of marketing for a product like this. He decided to invite Lori to join his deal of $600,000 for 5% of Toymail.

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Gauri agreed that the skill set of both Lori and Chris is exactly what she needs to attain proper guidance as she planned to scale her business. She ended up accepting this offer.

As of 2024, it has been revealed that Toymail was shut down in November 2018. By 2019, there were no updates about the company on their socials as they struggled to scale. Shark Tank episodes are available to stream on ABC.

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