Denver startups hooking deals
Wedfuly, Wad-free got a boost from Herjavec, O’leary
Two Denver startups are now swimming with sharks.
On Friday’s episode of ABC’S “Shark Tank,” Wedfuly and Wadfree walked away with deals from “sharks” Robert Herjavec and Kevin O’leary, otherwise known as “Mr. Wonderful.”
Denver-based Wedfuly was founded by Caroline Creidenberg, a former software engineer, in 2017.
It originally offered virtual wedding plan services. When the pandemic hit, Creidenberg pivoted and started helping run virtual wedding ceremonies on Zoom. The company handles the tech side of the event, which includes sending tripods and rental camera equipment to film the event and providing a remote production team to emcee and run the livestream.
On-site filming is done by the couple themselves or a tech-savvy friend or family member. Base packages range from $800 to $1,200, with add-ons available.
Creidenberg told Businessden that Shark Tank producers reached out to the company in March, and her segment was filmed in July.
“I was in there for an hour and a half, and I don’t remember anything that happened because there’s so much adrenaline going into it, and I feel like I blacked out,” Creidenberg said.
On the show, Creidenberg wore a wedding veil and asked for $200,000 in exchange for a 5% stake in the company. She told the group of investors that since March 2020, Wedfuly has put on 700 virtual weddings and done $1 million in sales with a 75% profit margin.
Three sharks quickly backed out. Daymond John said that, with the pandemic waning, people want to attend in-person weddings now more than ever. Lori Greiner said she loved Creidenberg’s story but the business wasn’t the right fit for her. And Mark Cuban cited scaling as a challenge.
O’leary, on the other hand, was interested in the data Creidenberg could collect through Wedfuly. He offered $200,000 for a 20% stake in the company.
“I have a lot of other companies that service weddings,” O’leary said. “I don’t think you’re worth $4 million. But it’s an interesting data feeder business if you’re willing to work with the other companies, so that we can sell your customers all of our other stuff.”