KaZAM Bikes ride into the Shark Tank in episode 425 as entrepreneur Mary Beth Lugo pitches the Sharks on her innovative balance bike with no training wheels. KaZAM bikes preaches the “balance first, pedal next approach to learning to ride a pedaled bicycle.” The KaZAM Bikes are designed for 3 to 6 year-olds who have not learned how to ride a bike. Instead of the usual training wheels, the bikes have a foot rest that allows youngsters to get used to gliding on two wheels before “graduating” to a traditional style bike with pedals. As the only balance bike on the market with a foot rest, KaZAM bikes give kids the confidence to maintain their balance on two wheels, which is often the biggest fear when losing the training wheels for the first time. The balance bikes won numerous awards from parents and toy industry groups as both a good teaching tool and a fun, quality toy.
Kazam Shark Tank Recap
Mary Beth entered the Shark Tank seeking $300,000 in exchange for 20% of Kazam. She tells the Sharks she makes the bikes for $38, wholesales them for $45, and sells direct to for $99.95. Kazam has great sales though: $1.4 million in less than three years. She projects $1.3 million for 2013. Mark offers Mary Beth $300,000 for 40%, but only if she can convince Barbara to come in. Cuban breaks out the 24 second shot clock. Mary Beth convinces Barbara to come in, but counters at 32%. Barbara agrees and the deal is done!
Kazam Shark Tank Update
The Shark Tank Blog constantly provides updates and follow-ups about entrepreneurs who have appeared on the Shark Tank TV show. KaZAM and Mary Beth Lugo get an update segment in episode 521 in season 5.
In the two years since Mary Beth Lugo appeared on Shark Tank, Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran have helped to push her balance bikes to a new level of success. In the few months after Mark Cuban invested in Kazam Bikes, they cleared $1.5 million in sales. Soon the bikes were popping up in places like Sky Magazine, as well as earning recognition from the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, and winning the Mr. Dad Seal of Approval. The big boosts came, however, when the bikes appeared in Dicks Sporting Goods stores, and achieved the holy grail of children’s retail products with a placement in Toys R Us.
Kazam Bikes are showing up in driveways across the country, and Mary Beth Lugo is swimming pretty with her Shark partners. They also added a mini trike for young children. As of November, 2022, the company has annual revenue of $5 million.
I find it interesting that you are claiming the KaZam being the only balance bike on the market with footrests. My daughter has had a Specialized balance bike with footrests for over a year now. (http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/kids/hotrockgirls/hotwalkgirls). It’s a great concept, so kudos to the inventors, but I am confused with patent rules and how that all works, since something like that has already been invented. Good luck!
On the show they made it clear this product is not a first and I don’t see a mention in this blog post saying it is.
Now they have advertisements for the “velo” bike. Bleh!
Wa-Mart has been selling them for over 5 years and now you are taking credit for it