Rob, Jonathan, and Avin are the inventors of the Aqua Vault, and are seeking a $75,000 investment in exchange for 12% in their company. If you were at the beach, pool, or waterpark and wanted to step into the water for a swim, what do you do with your valuables? You can tuck them in your shoes, or ask the sketchy guy next to you to keep an eye on them, but would anyone really keep checking over their shoulder every few seconds to keep an eye on your stuff? Fortunately, there’s now the Aqua Vault product.
The Aqua Vault is a simple and stylish portable vault to secure your valuable. Set your code, insert your valuables, then clamp the vault shut over any fixes object with a bar, such as chairs by the pool or umbrella stands. Now you can stop worrying about anyone snooping around your belongings – just lock up, and step away for anything. Aqua Vault isn’t limited to just use by the beach, Aqua Vault also works great for trips to the golf course or for company picnics.
Aqua Vault On Shark Tank
An open Aqua Vault
Robert admits that this is a great concept, since as a family man himself, he is always in charge of staying by the towels and guarding everyone’s belongings. As Robert asks what Aqua Vault is sold for, Jon passes out samples. The Aqua Vault retails for $49.99, but will wholesale for $22.95. They are made for $10.86, but they have only ordered the minimum number of Aqua Vaults from the factory, which was a minimum of 5,000 units. Obviously, the more units that are ordered, the cheaper each individual Aqua Vault will be.
Kevin asks for the business model from the three men, as their competitor has actually pitched their idea to Kevin before for a potential investment. There are a few different models of Aqua Vaults, and their plan is currently to target locations such as hotels, cruise ships, and theme parks. The majority of the hotels in South Beach, Florida, have actually signed up for Aqua Vaults. They have sold, over a period of 6 months, Aqua Vaults totalling up to $87,000 in revenue. They do have a contract for another 10,000 units by the year’s end, which should help them come close to 100,000 units.
As an investor, Kevin points out the strategy – the hotel leases the space to the customer, then bills the customer at the end of their stay. Where does the investor make the return? Amin clarifies that the Aqua Vaults are being sold, at wholesale price, to each hotel. Each hotel then rents out the space of an Aqua Vault to the residents, costing between $5 and $10 per day. The three men behind Aqua Vault do not have a deal in place where they profit off daily rentals of the Aqua Vault. Robert then explains that the Sharks deal with a lot of hotel chains, and a lot of hotels are incredibly frugal – Robert suggests that they should give the hotels free Aqua Vaults, and then take a share of the revenue. He finds that that would be a much more sustainable business model, but Amin admits that when they were starting out, they did not have access into the hotels’ books so they could not accurately gage the revenue, but based on the sales delta (sales volume increasing), they have started to find that this could be a potential strategy.
There are three different models of doing business with Aquavault, Avin explains further – for the hotels, there is the wholesale price which is the price of $22.95. The hotel then rents out the space daily, for a price determined by the hotel. There is also the gift shop model, and then a third model which would be the most ideal model for Aqua Vault – have A quaVaults inside every single hotel room, inside of the packaging, with a point-of-sale sign. The Aqua Vaults will be strategically placed on top of the pre-existing safes that are typically located in resort hotels. Before you would go down to the pool, you have the option of just purchasing the Aqua Vault and having the luxury or having to rent it out. We now live in a day and age where people constantly want their smartphone or other belongings on them at all times.
A closed Aqua Vault
Robert then immediately makes an offer of the $75,00 in exchange for 25% of the company. While Jon appreciates the offer, 25% is just too high for Aqua Vault to make a deal. There are three men behind Aqua Vault, and they left behind potentially fulfilling careers in order to pursue the Aqua Vault as a business. Daymond is debating internally if he wants to make an offer or not, which Robert points out is his exact point – he was the first Shark to make an offer, and while he will let the three men determine for themselves if they want to risk hearing other offers and offending Robert, Robert demands to get an answer to his proposition.
Daymond then asks for a little more information to help him make his mind up – where exactly is Aqua Vault being sold? Most of the hotels in South Beach have already purchased Aqua Vaults, and Aqua Vault has even made it on to HSN, the Home Shopping Network. Aqua Vault has also been in several catalogs, like SkyMall, but HSN is what catches Daymond and Lori’s attention. They both question how the appearances on HSN went, which Avin reveals that only 200 units sold in their time slot, and Aqua Vault actually just signed a purchasing order for TVSN, Television Shopping Network, out of Australia. Daymond turns to Lori for guidance on those HSN metrics, which Lori denotes as not being a good performance.
Mark then turns business to focus on the online matters, and Avin reveals that they have been approaching media companies, Public Relations outlets, bloggers and magazine articles. Aqua Vault was also featured on The Today Show, which helped boost sales, but the reality is that online shopping for the Aqua Vault only constitutes about 20% of their entire revenue stream. Online, they have sold only 250 units online, which brings the Aqua Vault sales out to only be around 1,200 units in the lifetime. Robert declares that there might be a problem with the structure.
There are a dozen other vendors selling the Aqua Vault, Avin claims – the Aqua Vault website is not the only location to purchase it. The total sales came out to $87,000, and $33,000 of that was in hotels and the rest online. Robert then exits the deal, as he explains that he sees more and more problems and less opportunity. Kevin points out that one moment, the offer was there, and the next it was gone – you talk too much, you can’t shut up, and you lose the deal.
Daymond asks if they have sold any Aqua Vaults to water parks, which they reply that they have sold to two in Florida and are in talks with several others to sell a number of Aqua Vaults. Daymond says that he has a deal with HSN, and could bring the cost down – he offers $75,000 in exchange for 25% equity, and needs an answer immediately. Mark attempts to explain himself, and Daymond demands an answer again.
In the end, Avin, Jonathan and Rob accept the deal with Daymond for $75,000 in exchange for 25% of their company.
Aqua Vault Now in 2018 – After Shark Tank Update
The Aqua Vault appears to be doing quite well since the appearance on Shark Tank. The Aqua Vault is still
The Flex Vault, a new product in the same vein as the Aqua Vault
sold for a price of $39.95, but new products have been created to compliment the Aqua Vault technology. Now, the Flex Safe is also available, which is the same idea as the Aqua Vault but comes in a pouch instead of as a plastic vault that can’t be penetrated or cut easily. Aqua Vault continues to partner with hotel chains and other companies, such as Typhoon Lagoon, which is a water-based amusement park in Florida.
Aqua Vault’s website now also sells a variety of other products than just the vault technology used in Aqua
Vault and Flex Safe, such as Packabke Pails which are collapsible beach pails, and the Aqua Vault Waterproof Phone Case, which allows for the user to take pictures and videos underwater without requiring any special housing.
