Yes, Dude Wipes got a deal on Shark Tank. Three of the four Chicago founders of Dude Products pitched their flushable wipes for men in Season 7, in an episode that aired on October 16, 2015. They asked for $300,000 for 10%, watched Kevin O’Leary and Robert Herjavec bid against each other at 25% to 30%, and then took a last-second offer from Mark Cuban: $300,000 for 25%. The deal closed, and Cuban still lists Dude Products in his portfolio in October 2026. The company is still in business and sells through Walmart, Target, Kroger and Amazon. Its growth figures come almost entirely from Shark Tank update segments and are worth reading as claims, and in 2023 it agreed to a $9 million class-action settlement over whether its wipes are really flushable.
The Dude Wipes Shark Tank deal at a glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Episode | Season 7, Episode 4 (aired Oct. 16, 2015) |
| Pitched by | Sean Riley, Ryan Meegan and Jeff Klimkowski |
| Sales claimed on air | About $300,000 a year, with a new Kroger order covering about 1,500 stores |
| Ask | $300,000 for 10% (a $3 million valuation) |
| Offers | O’Leary and Herjavec each at 25%, then a two-Shark offer at 30% |
| Deal | $300,000 for 25% from Mark Cuban (a $1.2 million valuation) |
| Did it close? | Yes: Dude Products is listed on Cuban’s portfolio site |
| Status, Oct. 2026 | Active |
$300,000 for 25% valued the company at $1.2 million, about four times the sales it reported, and less than half its ask. Our post-money valuation calculator does that arithmetic.
Four friends and an apartment idea
Wikipedia, citing the Chicago Tribune and WGN, says the founders came up with the product in their Chicago apartment in 2010 and launched it in 2012. It names Sean Riley, Brian Wilkin, Ryan Meegan and Jeff Klimkowski as co-founders. The pitch was simple: flushable personal wipes, packaged and marketed for men who would not buy baby wipes. Before the show, Shark Tank Blog reports, the company was self-funded.
What happened in the Tank
According to Shark Tank Blog’s account of the episode, the founders said they were on track for about $1.5 million in revenue that year, after roughly $300,000 the year before, largely because of a new Kroger order covering about 1,500 stores worth about $168,000 a month. O’Leary and Herjavec each offered $300,000 for 25%. Herjavec moved to 27.5%, and O’Leary proposed a joint offer at 30%. Cuban came back in at the last moment, and the founders accepted his $300,000 for 25%.
Did the Dude Wipes deal close?
Yes. Business Insider reported Cuban’s investment in October 2015, according to Wikipedia’s sourcing, and Cuban’s portfolio site, markcubancompanies.com, lists Dude Products among its 173 companies when we checked on October 28, 2026. Shark Tank Blog says the deal closed after the show and that Cuban has acted as a mentor since.
What happened to Dude Wipes after Shark Tank
The retail footprint grew in steps. Wikipedia records that Walmart picked the product for national distribution through its Made in the USA program in 2018. In October 2026 the company’s website lists Walmart, Kroger, Target and Amazon as retailers.
The sales figures need care. Almost every number comes from the company’s own Shark Tank update segments, as summarized by Shark Tank Blog, and they do not always describe the same thing:
| When | Figure | As reported |
|---|---|---|
| Year before the show | About $300,000 in sales | On air |
| First year after the show | $3.2 million in sales | Season 8 update |
| November 2021 | $1.4 million a week; $120 million lifetime | Season 13 update |
| October 2023 | $341 million lifetime | Shark Tank Blog |
| 2025 | “Half a billion dollars in sales to date”; over $100 million a year | Shark Tank Blog |
None of these is audited, and Dude Products is private. Still, the series is internally consistent: $1.4 million a week in late 2021 is about $73 million a year, and going from $120 million to $341 million lifetime between November 2021 and October 2023 implies about $110 million a year, which matches the “over $100 million” claimed later. The lifetime totals are cumulative and include everything since 2012.
The flushability lawsuit and the $9 million settlement
The product’s central claim is that it can be flushed. In Darnall et al. v. Dude Products, Inc., filed in DuPage County, Illinois, the class representatives alleged that wipes marketed as flushable are not, according to Wikipedia’s summary of the case. Dude Products denied wrongdoing and settled. The Washington Examiner reported in October 2023 that the settlement was $9 million. In October 2026 the company’s homepage says “Flush ‘em dude” and its navigation links to a “Flushability” page; the retailer listings it links to still use “flushable” in the product name.
Is Dude Wipes still in business, and who owns it?
Yes. Dude Products is privately held by its founders and Cuban, whose current percentage has not been disclosed. Its website carries a 2026 copyright and blog posts from October 2026, and it links to its Amazon listing:
DUDE Wipes Unscented Flushable Wipes, 48 count
What founders can take from it
First, a retail order in hand changes a pitch. Dude Wipes walked in with a Kroger rollout, which made a $300,000 sales history look like the start of a $1.5 million year. Second, a last-second offer from the right Shark can beat higher bids from the wrong ones; the founders took the same 25% from Cuban that O’Leary and Herjavec had offered. Third, a product’s core claim is also its legal exposure. “Flushable” is what makes the product different, and it is what the class action was about. For another Cuban deal where the company outgrew its episode, see Cup Board Pro; for a claim that failed regulatory scrutiny, see Breathometer.
