A mobile phone charging station sounds like a revolution, doesn’t it? Well, that’s what founders Bill Shuey and Kyle Byrd also thought when they founded Amber Phone Charging Station.
The company came on the sixth season of Shark Tank where they were asking the Sharks for $200,000 for 20% equity in the company. As unique as the concept behind the company is, Amber Phone Charging Station managed to leave the sharks quite intrigued.
With how well the company has been performing, being curious about its valuation and its fate after Shark Tank is a common afterthought. Let us take a look at it.
Shark Tank Amber Phone Charging Station Update
- Entrepreneurs – Bill Shuey and Kyle Byrd
- Business – Mobile phone charging station
- Ask – $200,000 for 20% equity
- Result – None
- Sharks – None
If the concept of the phone charging station didn’t tickle your senses, it is primarily targeted toward companies and business owners.
Amber Phone charging station has two operational models – one where the interested buyers can buy the mobile phone charging station up front for $2000 and the second is the leading model where the users can pay a monthly recurring fee of $150 for an extended or short period.
After the pitch, the Sharks started expressing their thoughts and concerns related to the product before offering their counteroffers.
The first Shark that spoke about the product was Robert Herjavec. His main concern was with the low-cost fingerprint scanner. Although he was appreciative of the “cost-cutting” element, his concern was the lack of accuracy with the low-cost fingerprint scanner. He said that they wouldn’t perform as accurately as the more expensive ones.
Following in on Robert’s concerns, all the other sharks agreed on the standpoint. Also, the founders clarified that the manufacturing cost for each unit of Amber phone charging station is $1000, which the sharks thought was a lot. The profit margin didn’t make much sense to them.
Lori Greiner wasn’t intrigued by the product and didn’t think it would sustain in the market in the long run, which is why she backed out from the deal. Later, Mark Cuban dropped out before making any deal.
However, things took a turn for the worse when Kevin O’Leary decided to call out the product as one of the worst on the show to date. He emphasized that not only was the concept unnecessary, it didn’t stand against the competition in the market. The product felt very redundant.
The last two sharks in the panel were Robert and Daymond, who weren’t interested in making an offer either. So, they backed out as well. In short, Amber phone charging station’s founders didn’t get any deal on Shark Tank and had to walk out of the show empty-handed.
It looks like the Sharks were far-sighted and quite right about the business’ future because the Amber Phone charging station is no longer in business. They stopped their operation in 2015 and the founders have started working on other projects.
