Souper Cubes got exactly what it asked for on Shark Tank. Jake and Michelle Sendowski, a Los Angeles couple selling silicone freezer trays, asked for $400,000 for 5% in Season 12, and Lori Greiner matched it and handed over her “golden ticket.” Kevin O’Leary and Barbara Corcoran bid lower on their own terms; Mark Cuban made no offer. The deal is documented as accepted and, unusually for this show, there is good evidence it held. The company is still selling in 2026. What’s less solid is the sales story: the figures the founders have given over the years don’t reconcile.

What did Souper Cubes pitch on Shark Tank?

A silicone freezer tray with measured one-cup wells, sold in sets with a lid, built for freezing soup, stock and leftovers in portions. The ask was $400,000 for 5%, which implies an $8 million valuation (the arithmetic is the same one our post-money valuation calculator runs). Shark Tank Blog says the business was self-funded and that 2020 sales were $1.6 million, almost 80% through Amazon. Looper, citing the episode, puts the unit economics at about $3.80 to make against a $19.95 retail price. Those are the founders’ on-air numbers, not audited ones.

Who made offers, and what was the final deal?

Looper reports that O’Leary offered $400,000 for 3% plus a 40-cent-per-unit royalty, or $400,000 for 15%, and that Corcoran offered $400,000 for 10%, or $800,000 for 20%. Cuban made no offer, per Looper and Soap Central. Greiner offered the founders’ exact ask, $400,000 for 5%, and called it her golden ticket. The Sendowskis took it. Tasting Table quotes Michelle on why: “It was exactly what we were looking for in terms of equity, and it was the exact shark we wanted.”

Some outlets disagree on the minor offers, and we’ve reported only the version Looper gives. The aired date is also reported variously; the ARCS Foundation, which profiled Jake, says Season 12, episode 14, aired February 19, 2021.

Did the Souper Cubes deal with Lori Greiner close?

Everything we could open says yes. The ARCS Foundation describes the $400,000-for-5% deal as accepted. Mashed reports that Greiner invested $400,000 for 5% and quotes her: “I’m proud to have them as partners and look forward to our journey together.” Shark Tank Blog says the deal closed. We found no filing, which is normal for a private company, but a Shark co-developing a product with the founders two years later (below) is stronger evidence than most “deal closed” claims. Compare the gap in VaBroom or The Woobles, where nobody can confirm it.

The founders’ story before the Tank

Tasting Table (August 2023) dates the idea to 2017: Michelle found standard ice cube trays imprecise for freezing broth and wanted a bigger tray with measurement lines, and Jake sketched the prototype. The company’s own blog tells it the same way: bags were messy, ice cube trays too small, glass jars broke. They started as third-party sellers on Amazon. Sur La Table became their first retail partner by the end of 2018, Tasting Table reports. The first couple thousand units shipped without lids because the lid mold would have blown the budget; customers asked for one.

Jake is an engineer, per the ARCS Foundation: a UC San Diego electrical engineering degree, a Caltech PhD in 2013, then Intel and later a product-management role at the cybersecurity company Vectra. Tasting Table quotes him calling the business “a side project for a while.” The ARCS Foundation says both founders left their full-time jobs in 2021 to run it.

What happened to sales after the episode?

Jake told Tasting Table: “Within the first 24 hours, we had done over a million dollars in sales.” Shark Tank Blog, citing the Season 13 update segment, puts the number at $938,000. Both can be true, since one is a founder recollection and the other a show figure, but the safe reading is “roughly $1 million in a day.” Tasting Table adds that the East Coast airing sold out nearly all inventory in two minutes and there was little left by the California airing.

Beyond that, the numbers diverge:

What does look solid is distribution: the ARCS Foundation reports that by May 2022 the line was in 830 Bed Bath & Beyond stores in the US and Canada, with Greiner helping with rebranding and repackaging. Looper lists international distributors in Canada, the Middle East, Australia, Mexico and Europe.

Is Souper Cubes still in business?

Yes. The company site and storefronts were live in 2026, and Looper (updated August 2026) lists the website, Amazon, Walmart, Williams Sonoma, Crate & Barrel and Food52 as channels. Tasting Table reports a two-person customer-support team and a Facebook group of nearly 20,000 members. The range has grown to milk trays for breastmilk, stoneware baking dishes, a cookie tray and the No Mess Utensil Set. Mashed reports Greiner invented and patented that last one and that Souper Cubes launched it in 2023 as a co-branded product starting at $29.95. We haven’t included an Amazon link because we couldn’t verify an ASIN for the brand’s listing.

What founders can take from it

First, they pitched with a real business: nearly $1 million in their first full year and about $1.6 million in 2020 meant the Sharks were arguing over equity, not whether the product worked. Second, the ask was priced to be accepted, with an $8 million valuation on that revenue, and the only Shark who matched it was the one with a retail track record in kitchenware. Third, the best evidence of a good Shark deal is a later product built together, not a headline number. If you’re weighing what 5% should cost, start with how to value your startup, and see our Lori Greiner deals roundup for how her other deals turned out.