Mark Cuban invests in vegan dog food company Wild Earth
Billionaire Mark Cuban has invested over $800,000 in pet-related companies on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” including vegan dog food startup Wild Earth. wildearth.com
Ryan Bethencourt was looking for an investment in Wild Earth, his biotech company that makes vegan pet food, in Shark Tank episode 1013. Bethencourt is both a vegan and a dog lover. One day, he decided he couldn’t reconcile feeding “dead animals” to his pets. He decided to use the knowledge gained from working with biotech start-ups to create “clean protein” pets food.
Due to a high valuation of the company, Mark was the last Shark left. He asked Ryan to tell him how he’ll scale the business. Ryan explained that he’s going to offer dog treats and dog food at a premium price to people who truly care about their dogs nutrition. His explanation won Mark over and he made a deal with Ryan: $550,000 for 10% of shares in the company.
