‘Shark Tank’ sharks wanted a bite of this Charlotte firm’s swimming goggles venture
The sharks on ABC’s “Shark Tank” went hook, line and sinker for a Charlotte company and its custom-fitted swimming goggles on Friday night’s show.
Bo Haaber and Rasmus Barfred went on the hit reality television show to pitch THEMAGIC5 swimming goggles produced by the company they founded. Former Danish professional swimmer Niklas Hedegaard also helps lead the company.
The goggles fit to the contours of the buyer’s face using advanced robot technologies and 3D printing. After purchasing a pair of goggles on the company website, customers use a smart phone app to scan their face, which takes about 13 seconds, Haaber told The Charlotte Observer last week.
All of the “Shark Tank” sharks ended up bidding on the chance to invest in the product.
Shark Robert Herjavec, whose daughter is a competitive swimmer in Canada, won the bidding with his $1 million offer for a 6.5% equity share, Swimming World reported.
Shark Mark Cuban later partnered with Herjavec, whose offer was among the biggest in the show’s 13 years, according to the magazine.
“Shark Tank was an incredible experience, and we landed a deal beyond our expectations,” Haaber said in statement after the show. “We never dreamed of having them both, and are absolutely thrilled with the outcome.”
In an interview with The Observer for a story published Thursday, Haaber said the company has been “doing something that no one else has done before.”
The made-to-measure goggles also are leak-free and made with no suction around the eye, he said.
“It’s fully customized,” Haaber said. “Every goggle that goes out from Charlotte is different.”
Despite the customized fit, the price range — starting at $55 — is similar to other high-end goggles, Haaber and Barfred said.
“So our goggles are not more expensive than other goggles, you just get a custom (fit),” Barfred said.
The company is growing and considering expanding its customized technology in other areas such as gas masks, diving masks, face masks and glasses. So when “Shark Tank” producers approached them in June to apply for the show, they dove in.
“We wanted to get some help from investors on that,” Haaber said. “The rest of the products would be fairly easy with our technology.”
Preparing to meet the sharks
Since starting the company four years ago, most of the THEMAGIC5 investors have been family members and friends. But the Denmark natives said they weren’t nervous leading up to meeting sharks Cuban, Herjavec, Lori Greiner, Kevin O’Leary and Nirav Tolia.
“We were very naive to how big it was,” Barfred said. “Our nerves were a little calmer than if we would have been local and known them.”
They’d prepared for weeks with two producers after being chosen out of 40,000 companies to go on the show. They learned about two weeks ago that their segment would air Friday.
Still, the experience took them by surprise.
“I still remember the look when we looked at each other right before we walked down the aisle and into the tank, we were very nervous,” Barfred said. “We were like ‘Wow, this is big.’ ”
“It’s the most intense thing I’ve ever experienced,” Haaber said.
Without giving any spoilers about the show, Haaber and Barfred said they were surprised by the heated arguments among the sharks and also by their knowledge.
“When we go into the tank, they don’t know anything about the company. We were surprised by how quickly they could digest the type of business we were and the value of the technology that we have,” Barfred said. “It was not about being critical; they really wanted to understand the business.”
While Haaber and Barfred were tight-lipped in the recent interview about what happened on “Shark Tank,” they said even though the swimming goggles have backing from top athletes such as U.S. swimmers Matthews Grever and Zane Grothe and U.S. triathletes Rudy Von Berg, Ben Kanute and Matt Hanson, the custom fit has much broader appeal.
“It does cater to the elite and top swimmers, but it’s the recreation market where we have most of the volume,” Barfred said.
This story was originally published October 30, 2021 at 1:50 PM with the headline "‘Shark Tank’ sharks wanted a bite of this Charlotte firm’s swimming goggles venture."