Highlights
- Neal Desai pitched Cate App, seeking $50,000 for 5% equity.
- Cate App hides text and voice messages, originally designed to reduce domestic disputes.
- Despite initial interest, the deal with the Sharks did not close.
Overview
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | Cate App |
| Founder | Phil Immler (Developed by), Neal Desai (Purchased by) |
| Industry | Technology, Privacy |
| Product | Call and text eraser app |
| Funding | No deal closed |
| Investment Ask | $50,000 |
| Equity Offered | 5% |
| Valuation | $1 million (at the time of Shark Tank pitch) |
Cate App is known as the cheater’s app because it allows people to hide text and voice messages on their smart phone devices. The Cate App was developed by a West Palm Beach police officer named Phil Immler who created it to prevent people from viewing significant others’ “secret” texts and conversations. As a cop, he witnessed many domestic disputes resulting from people going through significant others’ messages and hoped the App would help reduce domestic violence. CATE is short for “Call and Text Eraser;” any messages from people you designate on your list will be completely hidden within the App. Entrepreneur Neal Desai purchased the Cate App from Immler with his sister and brought it to the next level, and the Shark Tank.
The Cate App Pitch
Desai entered the Shark Tank looking for $50k for a 5% share of the business. As of taping, there were around 5,500 subscribers. At $4.99 per download, Desai has just north of $27K in revenue. Robert immediately questions the morality of the App. He’s out. Mark doesn’t like it, he’s out too. Daymond and Kevin agree to team up, but Barbara jumps in and offers 50K for 30% if Neal will consider re-branding it as a privacy app. Kevin and Daymond are at $50K for 50% of the company and Neal counters the two offers on the table with $50K for 15%.
Daymond and Kevin drop to 35% and Barbara drops to 25%. Desai turns on the negotiation skills and gets Kevin and Daymond to go to $70K for 35%. The deal is done.
The Cate App Shark Tank Update
The deal with the Sharks never closed. In the immediate aftermath of the show, there were nearly 10,000 downloads. According to numerous reports, 70% of the downloads were by women! Only the smart phone owner would know the App is on the phone, there are no icons. Desai has also begun marketing the App to businesses, government agencies, and attorneys as a “privacy app.” Any entity that needs to protect confidential communications can benefit from using Cate App. The dark side of the Cate app as a cheater’s app is it can be downloaded on a phone without the user’s knowledge, allowing someone to log all calls and texts. As of January, 2013, Cate App is only available for Android devices with an iPhone App ready “soon.” About a year after appearing, the app shut down.
Posts about Cate App on Shark Tank Blog
Company Info
The nerve of this guy. Way to destroy society, you greedy bastard.
If you had watched it, you would’ve seen why he did it. Maybe you did watch it but whatever.
Yep because we should all believe every story we hear
Just saw this episode, absolutely disgusting. Mad props to Robert for taking a moral stance. I’m surprised the other sharks were so okay with such an immoral product. Glad the business ended up failing.
Robert ended up cheating on his wife, so props to you for actually thinking anything Robert does on Shark Tank is real
It shows that Robert is the only sensitive guy on this subject. Mark and Kevin have been with their original wife all their life, and Daymond is being real and never proclaims himself as a family man.
Interestingly I would be curious to learn why shark tank did not complete this deal.
I suspect that them being tinder swindled on world wide TV had something to do with it. It would be pretty embarrassing to be called out for not doing due diligence on a company you buy into and not ask important questions yet present like you are the holy grail of how to conduct business.
Patent # US 8855723 was applied for prior to the airing and the patent was also coded ironically under a non compete non disclosure agreement to you guessed it…. an Indian company. The app was never intended to be created as a cheater app but rather work life balance and again you guessed it government and police work.
The story of the inventor being a cop seems incredibly suspect as first this wasn’t the inventor and secondly the story of a police officer can be found in the description of use applications on the patent itself.
Further more the so called police officer that sold it on flippa is suspended from flippa and to the best of my knowledge does not exist.
Someone should deep dive this and point out the lack of due diligence on the part of shark tank.
I wonder if shark tank could be held liable for paying royalties for the income created from airing the show and sales on other sites like Hulu and Amazon?
The deal never closed and they’re out of business.