Statistics: Katrina Lake Invested $200k on Shark Tank

Katrina knew quite a bit about making shopping personal before Shark Tank. She had started Stitch Fix while she was still at Harvard Business School, with the first Fixes going out from her apartment. By 2017, Stitch Fix was big enough for Katrina to take the company public. She was only 34 at the time.

Pair Eyewear had found another way to make something personal. Nathan Kondamuri and Sophia Edelstein didn’t want people to be stuck with the same glasses every day. Their base frames could stay the same, while magnetic Top Frames let customers keep changing how the glasses looked.

Katrina only had four businesses to choose from during her one Shark Tank episode. Pair was the one she wanted. And Lori Greiner wanted it too, so Katrina did not have to make the investment alone.

The two Sharks agreed to $400,000 for 10%, along with $1.50 from every pair sold until their $400,000 came back. Counting half of the money for Katrina puts $200,000 on her side. It was the only Shark Tank deal she ever made.

Katrina Lake Shark Tank Investment Summary

Company	Accepted Shark Tank Deal	Katrina’s Attributed Amount
Pair Eyewear	$400,000 for 10% + $1.50 royalty per pair with Lori Greiner	$200,000
Total	$400,000 complete deal	$200,000

There is only one company to count for Katrina. Pair Eyewear was a $400,000 deal, but Lori was putting money into it with her. If Katrina and Lori were putting in the same amount, Katrina gets $200,000 of the $400,000 deal. And Pair had another way of paying the Sharks back. Katrina and Lori would get $1.50 from every pair sold until their $400,000 came back to them. That money was coming back to them, so it doesn’t add anything to the amount Katrina was putting into Pair.

And Katrina never came back to make another Shark Tank deal. She saw four businesses during her one episode and Pair was the only one she picked. So that one $200,000 share makes up her complete Shark Tank investment total.

Katrina Lake Invested About $200,000 in Pair Eyewear

Nathan Kondamuri had been wearing glasses since he was a kid, and he didn’t have many choices when it came to how they looked. He and Sophia Edelstein eventually started Pair Eyewear and talked to more than 400 children while working on the idea. The glasses had a base frame, and different magnetic Top Frames could go right over it.

Pair had around $100,000 in sales during its first eight months. Nathan and Sophia came into Shark Tank asking for $400,000 for 10% of the company. Katrina and Lori were the two Sharks who wanted to make a deal.

Katrina and Lori wanted $2 from every pair sold along with the 10% of Pair. Nathan and Sophia weren’t too happy about giving up that much from every sale, so the royalty became something they kept working on. The Sharks eventually lowered it to $1.50 per pair until their $400,000 came back, and the founders took the deal. If Katrina and Lori split the investment equally, $200,000 was on Katrina’s side.

And Pair had a lot more money coming in after Shark Tank. By 2023, the company had raised around $145 million, and Pair said its revenue had grown 24 times since 2020. Then by 2024, around three million Top Frames had been sold in just two years.

How Much Did Katrina Lake Invest on Shark Tank?

The Pair Eyewear agreement had two parts. Katrina and Lori were giving Nathan and Sophia $400,000 for 10% of the company. Pair would also send $1.50 from every pair sold back to the Sharks until they had received $400,000.

That royalty didn’t mean Katrina was putting more money into Pair. It was there to help the Sharks get their original money back as the company sold glasses. Once the $400,000 had come back, the royalty was supposed to stop.

Katrina and Lori were making the investment together. If we give each Shark half of the $400,000, Katrina gets $200,000 and Lori gets the other $200,000. We don’t have their private paperwork showing that this was exactly how they divided the money though.

And Pair was the only deal Katrina made during her time on Shark Tank. There wasn’t a second or third company to change the number. So counting her half of Pair leaves Katrina with $200,000 in Shark Tank investments.

What Happened to Pair Eyewear After Shark Tank?

Pair started out making its glasses for kids, but adults eventually got them too. And there were plenty more Top Frames for people to put on those glasses. Some had designs from Marvel and Harry Potter, while others came from Sesame Street, the NBA and DC Comics.

And quite a bit of new money came into the company. Pair raised $12 million in 2021 and then another roughly $60 million later that year. By 2023, another $75 million round had taken its disclosed funding to around $145 million.

Pair was selling plenty of Top Frames along the way. By 2024, around three million had been sold during the previous two years, and the company had also started moving into the UK and Australia. Pair was getting into physical optical stores too.

That is a lot of growth from the company Katrina saw in the Tank with around $100,000 in early sales. But it still doesn’t tell us what Katrina’s investment is worth. Pair raised several more rounds after Shark Tank, and we don’t know Katrina’s current ownership or how much money she has received from the company.

Katrina Lake Built Stitch Fix Before Shark Tank

Katrina started Stitch Fix while she was still at Harvard Business School. The first Fixes were going out from her apartment in Cambridge, and customers were letting someone else choose clothes for them. They could keep what they liked and send the rest back.

Stitch Fix wasn’t just sending customers clothes that a stylist thought they might like. Customers told the company about their size and style first, and Stitch Fix used that information along with its stylists to pick the clothes. Then what people kept and sent back gave the company more information for the next time.

And Stitch Fix got pretty big. The company went public in 2017 with shares priced at $15, raising $120 million before expenses. Katrina was only 34 when she took the company public.

And she stayed in charge after taking the company public. By the time Katrina was preparing to leave the regular CEO job in 2021, Stitch Fix had around $1.7 billion in annual revenue, nearly four million clients and about 8,000 employees.

How Successful Was Katrina Lake on Shark Tank?

Pair was still a pretty small company when Katrina saw it in the Tank. It had around $100,000 in sales during its first eight months. A few years later, the company had raised around $145 million from investors and said its revenue had grown 24 times from 2020 to 2023.

There were a lot more glasses being sold too. By 2024, around three million Top Frames had been sold in the previous two years. Pair was also moving into other countries and getting its products into physical optical stores.

But we can’t take all that growth and turn it into a return for Katrina. Pair raised several big rounds after Shark Tank, so we don’t know what percentage Katrina owns now. We also don’t know if she sold any shares or how much money she has received from the company.

So the company Katrina picked became much bigger after Shark Tank. That part is pretty easy to see. How successful the deal was for Katrina personally is something we still can’t put a number on.

Katrina Lake’s Current Status

Katrina had been the CEO of Stitch Fix for years before she decided to leave that job in 2021. She became Executive Chairperson instead. Then in 2023, she came back to run the company for a few months before Matt Baer became CEO.

That still didn’t take Katrina away from Stitch Fix. She stayed on the board and remained involved with the company she had started back in 2011. Someone else was just handling the CEO job now.

And Stitch Fix isn’t Katrina’s only board position. She became an independent director at Recruit Holdings in 2023, and Recruit was still listing her there in 2026. She has also had board experience with companies including Glossier and Grubhub.

There are plenty of estimates online for Katrina’s net worth. But Stitch Fix shares have changed quite a bit over the years, and we don’t know everything else Katrina owns. So there isn’t a good exact number for what she is worth today.

Final Words

Katrina only had four companies to look at during her one Shark Tank episode. Pair was the one she decided to invest in. And the idea wasn’t too far away from what Katrina already knew. Stitch Fix personalized clothes for people, while Pair was giving people different ways to change the glasses they wore.

And Pair grew quite a bit after Katrina made the deal. By 2023, the company had raised around $145 million. It also started selling outside the U.S., and around three million Top Frames were sold during a two-year period.

Katrina’s Shark Tank record never got any bigger though. She didn’t come back and add another company, and Lori was there with her for the only deal she made. So $200,000 is all there is to count on Katrina’s side.

Pair became much bigger than the company Nathan and Sophia brought into the Tank. We just don’t know what that growth has meant for Katrina’s own money. Her Shark Tank story is only one company, but it turned out to be a pretty interesting one.