Yes, Breathometer got a deal on Shark Tank, and an unusual one. Charles Michael Yim pitched a breathalyzer that plugged into a smartphone in Season 5, in an episode that aired on September 27, 2013. He asked for $250,000 for 10%. All five Sharks went in together for $1 million and 30%, four times the money he asked for, at a higher valuation than he proposed. The deal closed, and it went badly. In January 2017 the Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement over claims that the devices were accurate, after sales of $5.1 million, and required refunds. Mark Cuban, who put in $500,000, later called it his “biggest beating” on the show. The company is no longer selling anything in October 2026. Breathometer is the most useful cautionary tale in the Shark Tank archive, because the failure was the product’s core claim.
The Breathometer Shark Tank deal at a glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Episode | Season 5, Episode 2 (aired Sept. 27, 2013) |
| Pitched by | Charles Michael Yim |
| Ask | $250,000 for 10% (a $2.5 million valuation) |
| Deal | $1 million for 30% from all five Sharks (about $3.33 million) |
| Did it close? | Yes. Cuban’s share was $500,000, per CNBC |
| Products at issue | Breathometer Original ($49.99) and Breeze ($99.99): $5.1 million in sales, per the FTC |
| FTC action | Settlement announced Jan. 23, 2017: refunds on request, ban on unsupported accuracy claims |
| Status, Oct. 2026 | No products on sale |
Most Shark Tank deals cut a founder’s valuation. This one raised it: $1 million for 30% values the company at about $3.33 million, above the $2.5 million Yim asked for. Our post-money valuation calculator runs both sums. It is a reminder that a bidding war on television prices excitement, not diligence.
What Breathometer was
Yim founded Breathometer in 2012, according to Wikipedia, after selling an earlier startup, Chatterfly, to Plum District in 2011. The device was a small breathalyzer that plugged into a phone’s headphone jack and worked with an app that estimated blood alcohol content. If you were over the limit, the app offered to call a taxi or a friend. Wikipedia records that an Indiegogo preorder campaign with a $25,000 goal raised more than $138,000 by April 2013. A Bluetooth version, Breeze, followed.
What happened in the Tank
Yim asked for $250,000 for 10%, Wikipedia reports. Every Shark wanted in, and they combined into one offer: $1 million for 30%. CNBC reported in 2022 that Cuban’s share of that was $500,000. Five-Shark deals are rare. Our archive profiles two, Cup Board Pro and Breathometer, and they ended in opposite places.
What the FTC said about Breathometer
On January 23, 2017, the FTC announced that Breathometer, Inc. and Yim had settled charges that they misrepresented how accurately the devices measured blood alcohol. According to the FTC:
- Ads claimed accuracy was proven by “government-lab grade testing,” and Breeze was marketed as a “law-enforcement grade product.”
- Neither the Original nor the Breeze was adequately tested for accuracy.
- The defendants knew Breeze regularly understated blood alcohol levels, did not tell users, and kept advertising.
- Sales of the two devices totaled $5.1 million.
The settlement required the company to notify buyers and give full refunds to those who asked, and barred it from making accuracy claims for a breathalyzer without rigorous testing. “People relied on the defendant’s products to decide whether it was safe to get behind the wheel,” said Jessica Rich, then director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Overstating the accuracy of the devices was deceptive — and dangerous.”
Breathometer neither admitted nor denied the allegations, BuzzFeed News reported, and said it had stopped making both devices in 2015, before the inquiry. “We are pleased to reach a resolution with the FTC through this settlement,” Yim told BuzzFeed News, adding that the company disagreed with many of the allegations and wanted to focus on “the Breathometer’s future, not its past.”
What happened to Breathometer after Shark Tank
The money came quickly. Wikipedia cites a Wall Street Journal report that the company raised $2 million in October 2013, weeks after the episode. The company then moved away from alcohol. In September 2016 it launched Mint, a $99.99 phone-connected device that measured gases linked to bad breath and gum disease, sold with Philips Sonicare products, according to Wikipedia and BuzzFeed News.
Cuban’s account of what went wrong is blunt. He told CNBC in 2022 that Yim was often traveling and partying instead of working: “Next thing you know, all of the money’s gone.” Yim denied spending company money on personal travel, said a Necker Island trip was a pitch to Richard Branson, and acknowledged to CNBC that inadequate product testing hurt the company more than his travel did. CNBC also reported that the company had recently agreed to be acquired but that no details were public, and that neither Breathometer nor Mint was on sale. We found no confirmation that any acquisition closed.
Is Breathometer still in business?
Not as a product company. The breathalyzers were discontinued in 2015, Mint is no longer sold, and Breathometer’s website did not load when we checked on October 28, 2026. Nothing from the company is on sale, so there is nothing to link. Cuban, for his part, told the Full Send podcast in 2022 that across nearly $20 million invested in 85 Shark Tank companies he had a net loss overall, according to CNBC. Breathometer was the biggest single reason.
What founders can take from it
First, a hardware company’s main claim has to be tested before it is advertised. Breathometer’s product was a number on a screen that people used to decide whether to drive; the FTC’s case was that the number had not been validated. Second, more money at a higher price is not always good news. Taking four times the ask gave the company runway and five celebrity investors, but no extra diligence on the one thing that mattered. Third, investors judge the founder long after the episode. Cuban’s complaint was about focus as much as the product. For the opposite kind of five-Shark story, read Cup Board Pro; for another Shark Tank company later pursued by the FTC, see Ring.
