Mark Cuban just made a $300,000 investment in wipes for guys' butts
Three recent college grads were living together in a Chicago apartment, where they used baby wipes to supplement toilet paper. What if, they wondered, there were a similar hygiene product specifically geared toward adult men?
In 2012, they launched that product, which they named Dude Wipes.
On Friday, the company's founders - Sean Reily, Ryan Meegan, and Jeff Klimkowsi - appeared on "Shark Tank" requesting a $300,000 investment for 10% of their company, Dude Products.
They walked out with Mark Cuban as a partner, after he invested $300,000 for a 25% stake in their company.
Cuban initially declared that he was out of the running for a deal. "I just don't see me as a wipes kind of guy," he told them.
Dude Products nearly secured a deal instead with investors Robert Herjavec and Kevin O'Leary. The founders and the investors went back and forth and had almost settled on a $300,000 investment ($150,000 from each investor) for 27.5% of the company.
But when Cuban jumped back in with his offer, Dude Products promptly accepted.
So far, the company has sales of $300,000 - but they anticipate that they'll raise $1.5 million this year, now that they've secured a contract to go nationwide with retail food chain Kroger. Each pack costs $6.49 at Kroger; the product is also sold online.
The founders said they needed a $300,000 investment to land deals with more major retailers.
Cuban initially told the founders they were underestimating the amount of money it would take to market a new product category. By the end of the episode, he'd apparently changed his mind.