While there are several water bottle brands in the market, LARQ is one of the best ones to go for. It is a premium water bottle brand that is known to manufacture self-purifying water bottles. It makes use of UV-C LED technology to purify water.
LARQ appeared on season 12 of Shark Tank and grabbed a deal with two sharks. The estimated net worth of the company in 2023 is around $50 million, which is pretty impressive. If this has got your attention, you should read the rest of the post to know more about the brand.
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Shark Tank Pitch
Before coming on Shark Tank, Wang’s company was already doing great business. However, he still took the chance and proposed a deal of 1% equity for $500,000.
At first, the Sharks were shocked at his valuation, but after Wang revealed his sales performance, the investors started taking him seriously. Initially, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, and Kevin O’Leary offered him $500,000 at different stakes. The final deal was offered by Lori and Kevin for a 4% stake in exchange for $1.5 million.
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After Shark Tank Appearance
After the airing of the episode, LARQ received a lot of publicity. According to SharkTankBlog.com, the deal with Kevin and Lori was never closed. However, that didn’t affect Wang’s business. They had enough capital to support their business. Plus, the company was successful even before appearing on Shark Tank.
LARQ has now introduced three products: LARQ Pitcher PureVis, LARQ Bottle PureVis, and LARQ Bottled Filtered. All the products have received very high ratings from customers.
LARQ water bottles are not only available on the official website, but also on other retail sites like Best Buy, Amazon, and others. Wang told Forbes that he expects to generate a revenue of $30 million in the future. As of 2023, the net worth of the company is around $50 million.
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About the Founder
LARQ is the creation of Justin Wang, of Chinese descent who was raised in San Francisco, California. He acquired a degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. At that time, he also served as a research assistant for a short period.
After completing his graduation, he worked at Merriman Capital. He moved to China in 2010, to become an investor at L Catterton. In 2014, he secured the vice president position at FOREO. A year later, he became the president of the company. In 2016, he became a part of LELO’s board of suppliers.
As a nature lover, Wang realized that traditional water bottles would eventually smell bad, indicating a bacterial infection. To help solve this problem, he launched LARQ in 2017.
LARQ is a self-purifying water bottle based on UV-C LED technology. It can remove almost 99.9% of odor-causing particles from bottles. He raised around $1.4 million through a Kickstarter campaign.
The company incurred sales of $5.5 million in the first year, followed by $9 million the next year, and $14 million in the third year.
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FAQs
1. How much does LARQ make?
Although the exact numbers aren’t known yet, the last reports suggest that LARQ’s last estimated revenue was around $2.6 million in 2021. Initially, the brand had around 28 employees, where the revenue per employee was calculated at $92,857.
2. How successful is LARQ?
Around 2020, LARQ raised around $11 million in their initial Series A funding from investors like DCM and Seventure. According to the brand, they sold around 20,000 pitchers during the pre-sale and the products are currently in stock. As reported on July 2021, the brand amassed around $4 million in annual revenue.
3. Why is LARQ so expensive?
If you compare LARQ to any standard reusable bottles, LARQ is a lot more expensive because they are marketed as “not your average water bottles.” According to the brand, the bottles are built with high-tech equipment that enables the drinker to drink safe and sterilized water.
4. How many LARQ bottles were sold?
The last reports from LARQ suggested that the brand sold around 75,000 bottles itself in 2019, not just online but via online retailers like Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s. With the kind of popularity the brand has gotten over the years, it isn’t surprising that its sales have consistently racked up over the years.
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