Syed Naqvi and Sarah Paiji Yoo hope the Sharks like Blueland, their sustainable cleaning products company, when they pitch it in Shark Tank episode 1101, the season 11 premier. Sarah initially came up with the idea for Blueland after reading about all the dissolved microplastics in our water. She was feeding her baby formula made from water and she wanted to be part of the solution to reduce plastic waste in our environment.
Her idea was making “green” cleaning products and the business became Blueland. There are four products in the line: a bathroom cleaner, a window cleaner, an all purpose cleaner and hand soap. Customers buy “for ever bottles” once and refill them with tablets that dissolve in water. The initial investment for the bottles is $12 each or $38 for all four. Re-fill tablets are just $2 each and they come in biodegradable paper packets. They’re 300 times lighter, 200 times smaller and 90% cheaper to ship than traditional cleaning supplies. Sarah estimates she can eliminate 100 billion plastic bottles in the USA alone with her idea.
Once she had the idea finalized, she found Syed on Linked-In and asked him to come aboard and help with filing patents and bringing the product to market. They secured $3 million in start up capital from a variety of investors including Justin Timberlake. They plan on developing more products beyond cleaning supplies in the future using the same methods, too. Now, they’re hoping a Shark will join them in creating a new way for consumers to buy cleaning supplies and more. Will a Shark want to clean up with Blueland?
Blueland Company Information
Video
Posts about Blueland on Shark Tank Blog
Blue Land – Eco Cleaning Supplies
Blueland Shark Tank Recap
Syed and Sarah enter seeking $270,000 for just 2% of their company. This elicits sighs and gasps from the Sharks. As they hand out samples and explain their product, they reveal they are a 100% direct to consumer company, but they have a deal in the works with a “big box store.”
The Sharks have concerns about changing consumer behavior, but they’re sold on the concept. Lori Griener and guest Shark Daniel Lubetzky decide to team up and offer $270,000 for 8%. Mr. Wonderful jumps in and offers $270,000 for 5% plus 1% advisory shares. Syed and Sarah balk, which prompts Mark Cuban to go out while saying they were only “here for the commercial.”
In a shrewd counter move after Mark’s criticism, the pair counters Mr. Wonderful with $270,000 for 3% plus a fifty cent royalty on every kit sold until he recoups his money. Kevin likes their offer and they do the deal.
Blueland Shark Tank Update
The Shark Tank Blog constantly provides updates and follow-ups about entrepreneurs who have appeared on the Shark Tank TV show. Three months after the original air date, there was no evidence of the deal closing. It is not listed on Kevin O’Leary’s site nor are the BlueLand people mentioning it on their site or social media. Only 1 out of 3 on air deals actually close, but three months is still a short time.
As of October, 2020, the deal with Kevin has closed and they are getting an update segment in season twelve, episode 1205. The press release makes reference to their online success during the global pandemic. Since the update segment highlighted their success through the pandemic, the deal must’ve closed. If it didn’t, why did Kevin do this HILARIOUS video?
Alas, the deal with Kevin did close in the end. As of November, 2021, annual revenue is $6 million. In February, 2022, the company raised $20 million to bring their total venture investments to $35 million. Part of the funds will drive their entry into retail which should begin in Q1, 2023. As of August, 2022, they are projecting 2022 revenue in the neighborhood of $10 million. In 2023, they boast over 100,000 online customers. They are in Target, Costco, The Container Store and other small retailers nationwide. In October, 2023, the company was the 15th largest Shark Tank company in sales with lifetime sales of $160 million.
More Updates
The company gets an update segment in episode 1509. In the update, they reiterate their mission of creating products that reduce plastic packaging. They tout Shopify, their online store platform which makes it easy to upload new products without being computer engineers. When their episode aired, they got more traffic than they could have imagined and their site never went down.
Before Shark Tank, they were in business just 2 months with sales of $200,000. Since appearing, they have $170 million in sales (they made $10 million more since last October). They’re now in Costco, Target, Erewhon and they recently launched nationwide into Whole Foods. One of the best ways they attract new customers in retail is through their plastic swaps. They invite people to bring in their cleaning products to swap them for one of theirs that can be used forever. Kevin made a video of him wearing all his single use plastic which they show onscreen. Kevin says there’s a whole generation of people who don’t want to use single use plastics and Blueland solved the problem. Blueland is now a brand.
Shopify invited the Blueland folks to their offices to show them their latest features. Sarah says Shopify has been an asset to small businesses everywhere. She says without Shopify, they couldn’t have created a business at the speed they did. The platform allows their brand and mission to shine through. To date, they’ve eliminated over 1 billion single use plastic containers from the ocean and landfills and they’re just getting started. As of July, 2024, the company is valued at over $220 million.
The Shark Tank Blog will follow-up on Blueland as more details become available.
