Statistics: Sara Blakely Invested $700k on Shark Tank

Sara Blakely already knew what it was like to have a product and somehow get people to care about it. She had done exactly that with Spanx. The business started from a simple idea and became a huge brand. So, when Sara came to Shark Tank Season 9, she wasn’t only somebody with money. She had already gone through a lot of what these entrepreneurs were trying to do. Getting customers, getting the product noticed, growing the business. All of that.

Sara didn’t stay around the Tank for very long though. She made four deals during Seasons 9 and 10. Brazyn Life, Alice’s Table, The Kombucha Shop and Sonnet James were her four choices. Together, Sara agreed to put $700,000 into them.

Sonnet James got a lot of that money. Sara agreed to invest $350,000 in the company by herself. That is already half of the complete $700,000. Brazyn Life and Alice’s Table each brought another $ 125,000 from Sara. Then The Kombucha Shop added $100,000. Four businesses, but one of them took as much money as the other three put together.

The $700,000 does need one explanation though. A deal made inside Shark Tank is not always the deal that happens after filming. The Sharks and entrepreneurs still go through the business again. Sometimes the money never goes in.

That happened with Brazyn Life and The Kombucha Shop. Neither deal closed. Alice’s Table and Sonnet James have much stronger evidence of actually moving forward with Sara. So, $700,000 is what Sara agreed to invest on the show. Her real investment amount is not as simple.

How Much Did Sara Blakely Invest on Shark Tank?

Only Sonnet James was Sara’s deal alone. She put up the complete $350,000 herself. The other three had another Shark involved. Sara joined Lori Greiner on Brazyn Life, giving Sara $125,000 of that deal. Mark Cuban joined her on Alice’s Table, another $125,000 from Sara. And with Barbara Corcoran on The Kombucha Shop, Sara’s part of the cash investment was $100,000.

Sara Blakely invested $700,000 in four accepted Shark Tank deals. Out of these, Sonnet James was the only business she invested in without another Shark. Brazyn Life, Alice’s Table and The Kombucha Shop were all shared investments.

The biggest amount went to Sonnet James. Sara invested the complete $350,000 herself. For Brazyn Life, she joined Lori Greiner in a $250,000 deal, which makes Sara’s share $125,000.

Then there was Alice’s Table, where Sara and Mark Cuban invested $250,000 together. So, another $125,000 goes into Sara’s total. With The Kombucha Shop, Sara partnered with Barbara Corcoran for $200,000 in cash, giving her another $100,000.

Now, add all of them together and the amount reaches $700,000. Sara had one solo deal and three investments with other Sharks. And since these were the only four businesses she invested in, this makes up her complete Shark Tank portfolio.

However, that is not always how things work out after the show. Brazyn Life and The Kombucha Shop did not close their deals, while Alice’s Table and Sonnet James have much stronger evidence of going through. So, the $700,000 tells us how much Sara agreed to invest on Shark Tank, but the amount that actually made it through is another thing.

Sara Blakely’s Season-by-Season Investments

Season 9 gave Sara her first two deals. Brazyn Life and Alice’s Table. She had another Shark with her on both of them, and Sara’s part came to $250,000 for the season.

Then Season 10 added The Kombucha Shop and Sonnet James. Only two businesses again, but this time Sara agreed to $450,000. Sonnet James is what made the difference here because $350,000 went into that one deal.

Sara Blakely Invested $125,000 in Brazyn Life

Nate Lawrie and Tom Hopkins came in with a foam roller that could collapse. Regular foam rollers take up quite a bit of space, which is annoying if you want to travel with one. Brazyn Life made that part easier. The founders were asking for $225,000 for 10%.

Sara joined Lori Greiner on the deal. They offered $250,000 together, so Sara’s part comes to $125,000. But this deal did not make it past Shark Tank. Nate later confirmed that the investment was never completed.

Brazyn Life did not disappear after losing the deal. Nate and Tom kept working on the company and continued selling the product without Sara and Lori. The business went on, just without that Shark Tank investment.

Sara Blakely Invested $125,000 in Alice’s Table

Then there was Alice’s Table. Alice Lewis had built a business around flower-arranging events. People could come to an event, make their own flower arrangements and take them home. Hosts could also make money by holding these events. Alice was looking for $250,000 for 6.25% equity.

Sara wanted in, and Mark Cuban joined her. The two offered Alice the full $250,000 she was asking for, and she took the deal. With Sara and Mark splitting the investment, Sara’s side comes to $125,000. And this deal has a much better story after Shark Tank. Alice later talked about Sara and Mark as investors in the business.

Nearly 500 hosts is where Alice’s Table eventually got to. Before that, there had been only around 40 to 50 local hosts. That meant a lot more people were now running the flower events.

Then 1-800-FLOWERS.COM came into the picture. Alice’s Table started working with the company, and in January 2022, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM acquired it. Alice’s Table continued after the acquisition too.

Sara Blakely Invested $100,000 in The Kombucha Shop

The Kombucha Shop already had customers before Kate Field met the Sharks. Around $3.2 million in lifetime sales, actually. The business sold kits that people could use to make kombucha at home.

Sara and Barbara Corcoran went in together. They offered $200,000 in cash for 10% of the company and also included a $150,000 line of credit. Kate accepted. The $200,000 cash was shared between Sara and Barbara, putting Sara’s part at $100,000.

Once filming was over, Sara and Barbara were no longer part of The Kombucha Shop. Their agreement did not close. Kate Field kept selling the kits anyway and continued growing the company without the Sharks. A few years later, in 2021, Habib Bakshi acquired The Kombucha Shop. The Shark deal disappeared, but the business did not.

Sara Blakely Invested $350,000 in Sonnet James

Sonnet James was probably one of the easier businesses for Sara Blakely to understand. Whitney Lundeen was making dresses for mothers. Sara had spent years with Spanx and women’s clothing products, so this was not a completely different world for her. She knew the customer, and she knew how much work goes into getting women to notice and buy a new clothing brand.

Whitney came in asking for $350,000 for 25% of Sonnet James. Sara liked the business enough to take the whole deal herself. She offered Whitney the $350,000 she wanted, with no second Shark coming in to share the money. Whitney accepted.

And that made Sonnet James Sara’s only solo Shark Tank deal. Her other three investments all had another Shark beside her. Here, the complete $350,000 came from Sara.

It was also half of all the money she agreed to invest during her time on Shark Tank. Sara’s four deals added up to $700,000, and Sonnet James alone took $350,000. One company, half the money.

This deal did not end with the television handshake either. It went through after filming, and Sara became an investor in Sonnet James. The company continued growing after Shark Tank, so this was one of Sara’s deals that actually made it past the show.

Did Sara Blakely Make Money From Shark Tank?

There were some pretty good things that happened after Sara made these deals. Alice’s Table went from around 40 to 50 local hosts to nearly 500, and then 1-800-FLOWERS.COM acquired the business in 2022. Sonnet James was growing too. The company reached around $6 million in annual sales before eventually closing in 2023.

Does that mean Sara made a lot of money? We really can’t say that.

Sara’s ownership in these companies was private. We don’t know what she received when Alice’s Table was acquired, or how much money Sonnet James ever returned to her. A business can make millions in sales without that number becoming an investor’s profit. There are expenses, ownership percentages and plenty of other things in between.

Conclusion

Four deals put Sara Blakely at $700,000 in accepted Shark Tank investments. Sonnet James was easily the biggest at $350,000. Alice’s Table and Brazyn Life counted for $125,000 each from Sara, while The Kombucha Shop was another $100,000.

But Brazyn Life and The Kombucha Shop never completed their Shark deals. Alice’s Table and Sonnet James did make it further with Sara.

One was eventually acquired. The other grew for several years and then closed. Sara’s exact earnings from either one were never made public.