Nicole Townend is the inventor of Teddy Needs a Bath. It’s a $15 cotton bag designed to safely clean stuffed animals in the washing machine. The young mother from Huntington Beach, California pitched her business on Shark Tank in 2013. She was looking for an investment of $50,000 in exchange for 10 percent equity. On the show, she and billionaire father of three Mark Cuban (who said he does all the laundry in his house) agreed to a $100,000 investment for 30 percent with a 10 percent royalty until the investment was repaid.
The deal they made on Shark Tank didn’t happen, however. Instead, according to a quote from the Shark Tank blog Cuban loaned Townend the money to finance large purchase orders and that really helped Teddy Needs a Bath. Townend said: “Mark said he’ll fund PO’s and he loaned me the money… at a much better rate than the typical 15-20%. It was the biggest favor I ever got.” Cuban’s help and Townend’s work pushed Teddy Needs a Bath to a place where world-renowned teddy bear manufacturer Gund offered Townend a 5-year licensing deal which she accepted. New episodes of Shark Tank air Sundays at 9pm on ABC. [Related: 27 Favorite ‘Shark Tank’ Products at Amazon — New List]
