Statistics: Richard Branson Invested $360,000 on Shark Tank

Richard Branson did not make many Shark Tank deals. He appeared twice in Season 9 and ended up with just three companies. Locker Board, Sierra Madre Research and Grypmat were the businesses he decided to invest in.

And Richard had already been running businesses for a very long time before he sat in that chair. Virgin had grown from a record business into airlines, travel, telecommunications and much more. So the entrepreneurs were not meeting somebody who had only brought money into the Tank. They were meeting somebody who had spent years building businesses himself.

His three Shark Tank investments were also pretty different from each other. There was a small skateboard designed to fit in a school locker, outdoor equipment, and a tool mat created by an aircraft mechanic. Together, Richard’s own investment in the three businesses came to $360,000.

How Much Did Richard Branson Invest on Shark Tank?

Richard put $240,000 into his first two Shark Tank companies. Locker Board was $65,000, and Sierra Madre Research was quite a bit more at $175,000. Both were Richard’s deals alone, so there was nobody else sharing either amount with him.

Grypmat worked differently. Tom Burden got Richard, Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner together on a $360,000 deal for 30% of the company. Richard’s part was $120,000, and this one does not need us to simply assume the three Sharks divided the money equally. The University of Toledo later reported Richard’s $120,000 investment and said each Shark had 10%.

That last $120,000 took Richard from $240,000 to $360,000. And then he was done. Two appearances had given him three investments, with Sierra Madre Research taking the biggest amount of his money at $175,000.

Richard Branson Invested $65,000 in Locker Board

Carson Kropfl had a skateboard problem at school. His regular board was too big for his locker and not exactly easy to put in a backpack either. So, he made a much smaller 17-inch skateboard and even used old and blemished skateboard decks to build the early Locker Boards. Carson was only 11 when his Shark Tank appearance was filmed.

He came in asking for $60,000 for 15% of the business. Mark Cuban offered $60,000 for 20%, but Richard went a little higher with $65,000 for 20%. Carson took Richard’s offer. And Richard liked more than the skateboard because he said the young entrepreneur reminded him of himself.

The $65,000 actually made it to Locker Board too. Carson’s mother, Carrie, said shortly after the episode that they had already received Richard’s money. Years later, Wham-O started manufacturing and distributing Locker Board products, while Carson stayed involved as a consultant. The boards are still being sold through Wham-O today.

Richard Branson Invested $175,000 in Sierra Madre Research

Richard and Juli Rhett had an outdoor business with something else attached to it. Sierra Madre Research made camping gear, but the founders were also working on clean-water projects in Central America. Richard Rhett had spent time in Honduras himself, where problems with his outdoor gear eventually pushed him to start making better equipment.

Richard and Juli wanted $175,000 for 15% of Sierra Madre Research. And Branson did not try to change the deal. He offered them the same $175,000 for 15%, and they accepted.

But Richard was not planning to keep the money he made from this investment. He said any profits he got from Sierra Madre would go to charity. So, there was another side to this deal besides just owning 15% of an outdoor company.

Sierra Madre kept going with Branson after Shark Tank too. The company has talked about him as a backer and partner. And it continued making more outdoor products after the show. By 2024, it had launched eight Kickstarter projects that brought in more than $1.8 million from 9,999 pledges. Sierra Madre is still selling its camping gear today.

Richard Branson Invested $120,000 in Grypmat

Tom Burden knew exactly why he needed Grypmat. He had worked as an F-16 aircraft mechanic, and tools had a habit of sliding away when he put them on the curved parts of an aircraft. So, Tom made a flexible mat that could sit there and actually keep the tools in place.

There was already quite a bit behind the business before Shark Tank. Tom had sold his house to help fund Grypmat and raised more than $100,000 through Kickstarter. By the time he met the Sharks, the company had around $400,000 in sales from about 10,000 units in ten months.

Tom came in asking for $200,000 for 10%, but he eventually wanted three Sharks instead of one. Richard joined Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner on a $360,000 deal for 30%. That gave each of them 10% of Grypmat.

Richard’s $120,000 was not just us cutting the $360,000 into three pieces. The University of Toledo later said Richard actually invested $120,000 in Grypmat. So, we know what his part of the deal was.

And the deal went through after Shark Tank too. Grypmat says it closed, and the company kept going with the three Sharks behind it. Then Grypmat was named one of Time’s Best Inventions of 2018. Tom ended up on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list too.

Richard Branson Had Already Invested in a Shark Tank Company Before Becoming a Shark

Richard had already put money into a Shark Tank business before he became a guest Shark. It was Ring, except the company was still called Doorbot when Jamie Siminoff brought it into the Tank in 2013. Jamie left without getting a deal from any of the Sharks.

Doorbot later became Ring. And Richard did not find the company through Shark Tank. A guest staying at his home on Necker Island had a Ring doorbell and used it to talk to someone standing at his front door back home. That is how Richard got to see the product working for himself. Richard saw what the product could do and became interested in the business.

By 2015, Richard was one of the investors in Ring’s $28 million Series B round. We do not know how much of that $28 million came from him, so it does not belong in his $360,000 Shark Tank amount. Then Amazon came along in 2018 and agreed to buy Ring for around $1 billion. Richard had only finished his time in the Shark chair a few months earlier.

What Happened to Richard Branson’s Shark Tank Investments?

Carson Kropfl eventually got to a point where Locker Board was no longer something he wanted to keep running in the same way. College was becoming more important to him, and he put the company up for sale. There is no reliable information showing somebody actually bought it. The Locker Board product is still around though, with Wham-O selling the skateboards.

Sierra Madre Research is still Richard and Juli Rhett’s outdoor business. They kept coming up with more camping products after Shark Tank, including the Hot Pocket camp heater and Ninox FlatLay Hammock. Kickstarter reported that eight of the company’s projects had brought in more than $1.8 million from 9,999 pledges by 2024. Richard has continued to be connected with Sierra Madre as a backer and partner.

Tom Burden had quite a few things happen with Grypmat as well. The company reached No. 718 on the 2021 Inc. 5000, and its tool mats have been used by the military, NASA and NASCAR. Grypmat is still selling them today. Richard has not publicly said that he left the company or sold his investment.

Conclusion

Richard Branson only needed two Shark Tank appearances to make his three investments. He put $65,000 into Locker Board, $175,000 into Sierra Madre Research and $120,000 into Grypmat. That gives Richard the complete $360,000.

And there is quite a bit behind that $360,000. Locker Board’s family said Richard’s money was received, Sierra Madre continued calling him a backer and partner, and Grypmat says its deal with Richard, Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner closed. These were not just three deals that ended when the cameras stopped.

What we cannot put a number on is what Richard got back. His current ownership in the three companies is not public, and neither is his complete return from them. Sierra Madre is a little different anyway because Richard said the profits from that investment would go to charity.