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Have you ever traveled to a different city and wondered why their water tastes differently than yours? It’s because it is different. Water chemistry varies greatly around the United States due to varying contaminates in the water by geographical location. Hydroviv is a customizable water filter that is specially designed for each customer based upon their water quality data from their location. Chemist, Eric Roy, developed this product after discovering that millions of US households have contaminants in their water that exceed current health goals and best practices.
“Who wants to be the next water nerd?” #SharkTank
— Shark Tank (@ABCSharkTank) April 15, 2019
Eric came to the Shark Tank in hopes of securing a strategic partner and $400,000 in exchange for 10% of Hydroviv. To continue to grow, Hydroviv needs to expand its sales and marketing teams to include more targeted e-commerce marketing efforts, including ad operations. Eric needs assistance with this as he does not feel that he knows enough about these areas of the company to formulate a properly marketing, social and sales strategy. He also has the burden of proving to Americans that they have a problem with their drinking water. Many people are not aware that their water contains contaminants that could make them ill and that poor water quality can cripple a community.
Hydroviv’s patented product is custom made to order and screws into the existing faucet to filter out contaminants. The company has seen year to date sales of $325,000 and projects to finish out next year at $1.7 million. The filter housing must be purchased up front and then the filter media is purchased using a subscription service. They are currently doing 100% of their business through e-commerce and are seeing very great organic traffic to their blog which helps to drive sales.
Although most of the Sharks are nervous to make Eric an offer because of the amount of customer education that will need to be completed, Mark Cuban decides to take a change on Hydroviv. He likes to invest in companies that are doing good work for the benefit of our communities and humanity as a whole. Mark offers Eric $400,000 in exchange for 20% of the company. He accepts and Hydroviv officially partners with Mark Cuban.
Personalization is everything! Identify your audience and give them what they want and you’ll be on the right track. @hydroviv_h2o is off to a solid start. #SharkTank
— Barbara Corcoran (@BarbaraCorcoran) April 15, 2019
Luv his mission but always challenging when you have to teach the market about a problem they don’t know they have. #SharkTank @ABCSharkTank
— Lori Greiner (@LoriGreiner) April 15, 2019
Bring me a filter that turns water to wine and I’m all in! https://t.co/mMOAlMCJVy
— Kevin O’Leary (@kevinolearytv) April 15, 2019
What do you think about Mark’s investment in Hydroviv? Would you purchase this product? Start the conversation in the comments below!
For a full summary of this episode, check out this article. Shark Tank airs on Sundays at 10:00 PM EST.