Highlights
- Bruno Francois seeks $90,000 for 5% equity in Cycloramic, an app that uses the iPhone’s internal gyro to create 3D panoramic photos hands-free by spinning the phone.
- The Sharks are impressed with $660,000 in sales, leading to a bidding war, and Bruno secures a deal with Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner for $500,000 for 15% equity.
- Post-Shark Tank, Cycloramic evolves, leading to the creation of Car 360, which is acquired by Carvana for $22 million in 2018.
Overview
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | Cycloramic |
| Founder | Bruno Francois |
| Industry | Photography & Technology |
| Product | Panoramic photo and video app using iPhone’s internal gyro |
| Funding Sought | $90,000 |
| Investment Ask | $90,000 |
| Equity Offered | 5% |
| Valuation | $1.8 million |
Bruno Francois unveils Cycloramic, a panoramic photo app, in Shark Tank 502 on January 31. The software in the app seamlessly stitches photos together to get beautiful, professional quality, high-resolution, panoramic photos from a smart phone. It shoots video, too.
The neatest feature is the hands free application. Simply place your iPhone on edge and the app automatically rotates the phone to take spectacular photos. The editing software inside the app is top-notch too with an entire suite of features.
Panoramic photos are made by “stitching” together a sequence of images to create one photo. Cycloramic stores each individually stitched photo for editing. With the plethora of photography related apps (and apps in general) in season 5, Cyclorama seems to actually DO something rather than access an add-on service.
They’re most likely looking to the Sharks for some seed money and help with exposure.
Cycloramic Shark Tank Recap
Bruno Francois comes on the Tank looking for $90,000 in return for 5% of the company. Cycloramic uses the iPhone’s internal gyro and vibration to spin the iPhone and uses the camera to take a 3D panoramic photo. The phone, when balanced on the flat edge, will spin itself, taking photos at regular intervals, to create the shot. Francois holds a utility patent on the software.
At the time of airing, the app was selling for $.99 on the iTunes store. With sales at $660,000, and income generated was $175,000. Bruno projected sales of $1 million in the coming year.
Lori Greiner loves the ingenuity, and she loves the product. She makes an offer of $200,000, twice what Bruno is asking, for 10%.
Bruno mentions that he’s applied for a provisional patent on a rotating base. He asks if Greiner is willing to allow him to hear other offers. Greiner wants an immediate answer. Mark Cuban jumps in, asking to hear more before he makes an offer, asking how the vibration can be applied to other uses.
Daymond John makes an offer of $250,000 for 10%.
Kevin O’Leary tells Bruno that he should consider how much equity he’s willing to give up. He believes that Bruno should “take the app as far as he can take it,” and build complementary technologies into a company. He makes an offer for $90,000, with a 15% royalty on this app alone.
Steve Tisch jumps in, offering $250,000 in return for 10% of the company, in partnership with Lori Greiner. There’s a feeding frenzy in the Tank!
Mark Cuban jumps in, offering $1 million in return for 30% of the company.
Daymond ups his offer to $300,000. Kevin O’Leary counters, changing his offer to $200,000 for 10%, but when the investment is paid back, he gives up 5% of his equity.
Greiner and Tisch adjust their offer to $250,000 for 10%, reducing the equity to 5% when the investment is paid back. Daymond responds by raising his offer to $350,000 for 12%.
Bruno asks if Mark Cuban would partner with Lori Greiner. Cuban says he’s “not opposed to it,” and asks Greiner what percentage they’d have to split. She responds, “50/50,” essentially dissolving her partnership with Tisch in favor of the new deal. Tisch asks Kevin O’Leary and Daymond John to go in on a deal with him.
Bruno isn’t willing to give up that much equity, so he counteroffers, asking for $500,000 in return for 15%. Cuban and Greiner accept, and Bruno leaves the Tank with a Shark deal.
Cycloramic Shark Tank Update
Bruno kept his cool throughout the negotiations, allowing the Sharks to fight amongst themselves to get him the best deal. Offstage, he reveals that his goal all along was to lure two or more Sharks into making offers, so he’s well pleased with the outcome. Lori Greiner has marketing expertise, and Mark Cuban brings computing and app experience to the table, making them both strong partners.
Downloads of the app on show night exploded with 8 million downloads the week following the show. Since appearing on the Shark Tank, Bruno has gone on to invent a panoramic selfie app to complement his first app. He continues to add new software and technologies to his repertoire, and Cuban and Greiner are showing their Sharky grins all the way to the bank.
After the downloads peaked, Bruno created Selfie 360, an app that makes animated gifs of panoramic photos. Next, he pivoted to Car 360 which made it easier to create interactive 360 degree images for car sales site. After meeting Carvana CEO Ernie Garcia at a conference, Carvana bought the company for $22 million in April, 2018.
Posts About Cycloramic on Shark Tank Blog
Cycloramic Information
Why are user ratings at the App Store so poor? Did the Sharks get hoodwinked or does this really work?
@W – The Sharks didn’t get hoodwinked at all. They sold the company to someone else for 22 million. I don’t know how much they made up until the time of that sale, but when it sold the Sharks made a nice big chunk of cash.