Vade Nutrition
Vade Nutrition is a company from East Lansing, MI, started by a husband & wife team of entrepreneurs that has created an interesting new way to consume protein after workouts: Tidepods.
Not actually. But kinda.
Vade Nutrition has developed a water-dissolvable membrane that contains a set portion of protein powder that can be added to fitness shakes on the go. Because they are self-contained amounts, they can be packed for easy travel and leave no waste behind after consuming its contents.
The product appears to come in two flavors, chocolate and vanilla. The container material is made out of 100% food grade material containing vitamins so that it adds to the nutritional value of the drink once it has been dissolved. The product contains no sugar, 20 grams of protein, and 90 calories per serving and is made from whey protein. The entrepreneurs recommend shaking the pods over ice to throughly mix the powder into the drink.
Vade Nutrition products have been on the market for almost a year and have made $80,000 in gross sales over that period. They have sold $30,000 in just the last month alone. The entrepreneurs did not mention specifics in terms of retail cost but said that the cost to consumers isn't much different than non-pre-packaged products, in this case about $1.50 per serving versus between $1.20 and $2 per serving of the traditional scoop variety.
All of the sales have been through their own site and through Amazon.
Kevin stated that this type of product typically has margins between 80% and 85% but that most of that got eaten up by the marketing costs that products like these required to compete. However, the entrepreneurs stated that about a quarter of their sales come in through social media which they said was free.
The entrepreneurs stated that they had spent $300,000 on inventory, partially to meet cost minimums and partially to cover production issues that they had been having. Whether that means they have a full $300,000 of saleable inventory is unclear.
Both entrepreneurs are athletes and the wife member of the team was a former gymnast.
This deal aired on Episode 10.06.
Making A Deal
Barbara exited the deal early, stating that she didn't like the taste. Lori disagreed with her and stated that it was actually pretty good.
Mark made an offer that appeared to have a clock on it but allowed returning guest shark Alex Rodriguez to have his say. Arod stated that he thought it would be a perfect fit with Ice Shaker, a deal he and Mark made back in episode nine of Season Nine and invited Mark to join him again on this.
Together, they offered $700,000 for 40% equity in the business. This represented a substantial 30% more equity than the entrepreneurs had originally offered but also for more than twice the $250,000 they had initially been looking for and represented a bite of just $750,000 from the original value in exchange for having a major former baseball player and the biggest shark as partners.