SoaPen is still selling its soap pens in 2026, but the most memorable part of its Shark Tank story did not turn into the clean investment deal viewers might assume.
The company’s founders, Amanat Anand and Shubham Issar, walked away from the Season 13 pitch without an offer. Then guest Shark Nirav Tolia changed his mind, chased them down after they left the set, and offered $100,000 for 10% of SoaPen, plus a $1 royalty on every unit sold until he received $200,000.
They accepted.
The problem is what happened afterward. Public follow-up reporting says the Tolia deal did not close. SoaPen instead continued building the business, raised $150,000 in a 2022 seed round attributed to MassChallenge, introduced new products, and is still operating an online store today. (sharktankblog.com)
That makes the current SoaPen story less dramatic than the television moment, but more interesting: the company appears to have survived without the Shark investment and gradually turned a novelty soap pen into a broader children's hygiene brand.
SoaPen entered Shark Tank with just $85,000 in lifetime sales
Anand and Issar did not arrive on Shark Tank with a large consumer brand behind them.
They had developed SoaPen after meeting at Parsons School of Design in New York. The original idea grew out of the UNICEF Wearables for Good Challenge, which encouraged designers to develop products addressing social problems. The founders' concept was straightforward: make handwashing more engaging for children by letting them draw on their hands with soap. (soapen.com)
The founders told the Sharks that SoaPen had generated $85,000 in lifetime sales when they pitched.
They also had a useful piece of evidence that people wanted the product. After Real Simple featured SoaPen in 2019, the company sold through its entire inventory of 5,000 units in three weeks. (meaww.com)
But the business was still small. The founders said they had no marketing budget and were largely dependent on paid Amazon advertising. That distinction mattered to the Sharks.
Anand and Issar asked for $100,000 for 10%, putting a $1 million valuation on the company.
The Sharks liked the product. They were less convinced that the founders had figured out how to scale it.
Nirav Tolia offered $100,000 after initially saying no
The pitch looked finished when Tolia also passed.
His objection was not that SoaPen was a bad product. He thought it was too early and suggested that the founders needed mentorship before taking an investment.
Then Anand and Issar left the Tank.
Tolia reconsidered.
The resulting scene is one of the more unusual Shark Tank negotiations. He went after the founders and made an offer outside the main pitch area: $100,000 for 10% equity, plus $1 per unit sold until he had received $200,000. Once that $200,000 threshold was reached, the royalty would disappear. (indiawest.com)
The founders accepted.
The structure was unusual but easy to understand. Tolia would receive the same 10% ownership they had originally offered, while the royalty gave him a mechanism to recover twice his initial cash investment before the additional payment obligation ended.
Tolia also said that he and his wife could help the founders. His wife, Megha Tolia, had experience in the consumer soap industry, which was part of his reasoning for making the offer. (indiawest.com)
On television, it was a deal.
Off television, things became much less certain.
The $100,000 Shark Tank deal apparently did not close
This is where many SoaPen updates become unreliable.
Some sites continue to describe Tolia as an investor in SoaPen. Others say the deal fell apart. The evidence needs to be separated carefully.
The clearest documented follow-up comes from Shark Tank Blog, which reported that there was no evidence the deal had closed and later stated that, by August 2022, the Tolia deal had not closed. (sharktankblog.com)
There is another important clue: SoaPen's own public materials do not currently identify Tolia as an investor or present him as part of the company. The company's current site describes the brand, sells its products and identifies Anand and Issar as its founders, but does not announce a completed Tolia investment. (soapen.com)
That does not prove with absolute certainty that the investment never happened. Private-company transactions are not always publicly documented.
But as of 2026, there is no primary-source confirmation I could find showing that Tolia actually became a 10% owner of SoaPen. The responsible description is therefore that the on-air deal was accepted but appears not to have closed.
That distinction matters. A handshake on Shark Tank is not the same thing as a completed investment after due diligence.
SoaPen raised $150,000 elsewhere in 2022
The company did not disappear after the Shark deal became uncertain.
Follow-up reporting identifies a $150,000 seed investment from MassChallenge in February 2022. (sharktankupdate.com)
Public information about SoaPen's financing is limited, so it would be a mistake to turn that single round into a broader claim about the company's total funding or current valuation.
What is clearer is the direction of the business.
SoaPen continued selling its core soap pens and expanded its distribution. It established an Amazon storefront, offered wholesale purchasing and educator discounts, and continued developing the product rather than treating the Shark Tank appearance as the end of the story. (sharktankblog.com)
The company also changed the product itself.
The founders kept developing SoaPen instead of leaving the original product untouched
In November 2023, SoaPen announced a new version of its soap pen with pink and purple colors, along with a formula designed to produce more suds and wash off more easily. The company said the changes came from work on its "As-Seen-On-Shark-Tank" product. (soapen.com)
That was followed by a broader expansion beyond the soap pen.
SoaPen introduced Alpy's Sneeze, a children's board book centered on handwashing, and began selling Color Wheel seamless socks. The current store also offers bundles combining the soap pens with the book and socks. (soapen.com)
The product is still recognizably the same idea from the Tank: children draw with soap on their hands, then wash it away. SoaPen currently recommends drawing for 20 to 40 seconds, followed by wetting, rubbing and rinsing. (soapen.com)
The difference is that the company now has more than one product around that basic hygiene concept.
SoaPen is still selling in 2026, although its current scale is unclear
The strongest evidence of SoaPen's present status is not a speculative "net worth" calculation. It is the company's own storefront.
As of August 2026, SoaPen's website is active and lists its three-pack soap pens for $24.99, Alpy's Sneeze for $14.99, and other bundles and products. The site also maintains wholesale and educator-discount programs. (soapen.com)
Some individual products are marked sold out, while others can be added to the cart. The three-pack, for example, is currently listed as available for $24.99, while the five-pack and some larger bundles show varying inventory status. (soapen.com)
So the simplest answer to "Is SoaPen still in business?" is yes.
The harder question is how large the business has become.
That answer is not publicly clear.
There are online estimates placing SoaPen's annual revenue or valuation around $1 million or more, but those figures are not supported by current company financial disclosures. Even earlier follow-up reporting described reliable revenue figures as unavailable. (sharktankblog.com)
There is therefore no solid basis for repeating a specific 2026 revenue figure or declaring that SoaPen is worth a particular amount.
What can be verified is much more modest, and more useful: the company has continued operating, selling products, adding new products and maintaining wholesale channels years after its Shark Tank appearance.
SoaPen's Shark Tank story ended without the Shark, not without the company
The most memorable SoaPen moment was Nirav Tolia running after two founders who had just left the Tank.
The more revealing part came later.
The $100,000 for 10% plus $1 per unit until $200,000 deal made for great television, but available follow-up evidence indicates that it did not become a completed investment. Instead, SoaPen found other financing, continued refining its original product and expanded into books, socks and bundled children's hygiene products. (indiawest.com)
Today, the company is still selling the soap pen that brought Anand and Issar into the Tank.
There is no verified blockbuster revenue number to report, and no reason to pretend there is one. But there is also no sign that SoaPen simply vanished after its Shark Tank episode.
In this case, the real update is quieter: SoaPen appears to have built a durable small consumer brand without the investment that made its Shark Tank ending so memorable.
