Lori Greiner once doubted a startup idea. Turns out, it was Kevin O'Leary's best deal on 'Shark Tank'.
'Shark Tank' investor Lori Greiner's dumb move cost her a great deal! During an episode of 'Shark Tank' which was released in 2019, Basepaws founder Anna Skaya, presented her business, a startup offering at-home genetic tests for cats, in front of an esteemed panel of Sharks including Mark Cuban, Kevin O'Leary, Lori Greiner, Daymond John and Robert Herjavec. As per Markets Insider, Skaya was seeking $250,000 for a 5 percent stake in her company. At that time, Skaya's company Basepaws had generated $200,000 in sales. Then, Greiner decided to drop out because she wasn't impressed by the sales of the company. Soon after, Cuban and John also dropped out due to similar reasons.
On the other hand, O'Leary offered $250,000 for an 8.3 percent stake in Basepaws. Along with this, O'Leary also asked for an additional 1.7 percent in advisory shares. Shortly afterward, Herjavec made an identical offer to Skaya and her company. Skaya had two offers on the table. However, Skaya wanted O'Leary and Herjavec to join hands and they ended up teaming up and offered her $125,000 for a 5 percent stake each. In the blink of an eye, Skaya accepted the offer.
Since then, Skaya's company Basepaws has climbed the ladder of success and made jaw-dropping profits. While appearing in a 2023 episode of 'The Daniel Mac Show', O'Leary talked about his investments in the beloved ABC business program 'Shark Tank.' Then, O'Leary mentioned that Basepaws was his biggest winner in terms of percentage. O'Leary subtly hinted that the valuation was higher than the mentioned $50 million. However, O'Leary didn't reveal the exact figures of the deal. "It was such a crazy pitch, I bought it anyway. We just sold the company at such a crazy price that I had to sign an NDA," O'Leary shared on the episode.
It seems like O'Leary well-known by fans as 'Mr Wonderful' saw something in Basepaws beyond the numbers. By the time, O'Leary and Herjavec had closed the deal, Skaya's company Basepaws had already hit the $3.5 million mark in sales, and that too within 18 months. In the episode, O'Leary gushed over Skaya and her ability to promote her product. "I invested in Anna for Anna. She’s so good at promoting her products, she has built that business 10-fold since ‘Shark Tank'", O'Leary said, as per Fandom Wire. It appears that O'leary took a big risk by investing in Basepaws and it paid off big time.
Later on, down the lane, Skaya, O'Leary, and Herjavec sold Basepaws to Zoetis in 2022 for a staggering $93 million. For the unversed, let us share with you, that Zoetis is s global animal health company that focuses on developing, and manufacturing medicines, vaccines, and other technologies for animals. When we talk about O'Leary's original investment in Basepaws, it was $125,000 which means he would have made nearly $3.2 million from this investment. At the end of the day, Lori's loss was O'Leary gain. In case you're interested, you can stream all the previous seasons of 'Shark Tank' only on a couple of streaming platforms including Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, FuboTV, Sling, and DirecTV Stream.