Knife Aid Mail-In Sharpening Update | Shark Tank Season 11
With professional knife sharpening services phasing out, using a mail-in knife sharpening service might just be the future. Because of this, Mikael Soderlind and Marc Lickfett created a company to solve this problem. Will they cut a deal on
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick overview of what happened to Knife Aid after
Knife Aid appeared on
| Shark: | Result: |
| Lori Greiner and Rohan Oza | Accepted deal of $500,000 for 20% equity |
| Kevin O’Leary and Barbara Corcoran | $500,000 for 20% equity |
| Mark Cuban | No Offer |
Shark Tank Knife Aid Update
- Entrepreneurs: Mikael Soderlind and Marc Lickfett
- Business: Knife sharpening by mail
- Ask: $400,000 for 15% equity
- Result: $500,000 for 20% equity
- Shark: Lori Greiner and Rohan Oza
Mikeal and Marc brought Knife Aid to
Dull kitchen knives can ruin your meal prep, and professional sharpening services are difficult to find. They adopted an idea already used for commercial customers and widened it to include home cooks.
Mikael is already a successful businessman with his company Happy Socks. However, he’d failed to make any headway in American markets and wanted to avoid making the same mistake again.
The Knife Aid entrepreneurs started their pitch with a knife sharpening demonstration, before explaining how the company works. Essentially, customers are sent a pre-paid envelope and they mail back a minimum of 4 knives.
Each knife costs $10 to sharpen. Additionally, sales in the month prior to filming were $37,000.
This was all the sharks needed to see. In fact, the bidding started soon into the pitch.
Lori Greiner makes the first offer, which includes $200,000 as an investment, plus $200,000 as a line of credit, and 20% equity.
Kevin O’Leary offers $400,000 for 20% equity.
Guest shark Rohan Oza decided to team up with Lori to make the same deal as Kevin, $400,000 for 20% equity. The sharks debate heavily about this product, and they all believe that it’s a great company that is cornering an open market.
Next, Barbara Corcoran teams up with Kevin, and they go in with $500,000 for 20% equity, a higher offer than Lori and Rohan. Mark Cuban interjects and says he will let the guys decide if they want one of the offers from the other sharks before he decides what he wants to do.
The entrepreneurs step away to discuss their options in the hallway, but soon after Lori joins them, reminding them that she wants the deal. In response, Mikael and Marc asked Lori and Rohan to raise their offer to $500,000 for 20% equity, and they agreed.
What tipped the scale? Lori’s retail expertise, and branding operations.
But how is this mail-in knife sharpening company doing now? Find out in our Knife Aid update!
We have great news to share in our Knife Aid update! The company is still going strong at the time of writing. In 2023, the business is steadily growing with an estimated annual revenue of $2 million.
Knife Aid has been featured on The View, Blade magazine, and even Wired. It’s no wonder the sharks went into a bidding war over this company!
In an email interview with
The power of
The company now offers a subscription service, and if you sign up, you receive 10% off your order. If you need some knives sharpened, head over to the Knife Aid website.
If we get any more news on a Knife Aid update, we will let you know!
Check below for more company updates from Season 11 Episode 4:
Before you go, make sure to check on the other company updates from Season 11 on our Season 11 products page.
Kimberly is a writer for Shark Tank Recap. She has written episode summaries and updates across multiple seasons of Shark Tank, with a focus on complete and accurate information since 2021. She believes that getting the business aspects of each deal correct is extremely important for viewers and fans. Her favorite Shark Tank products are The Wobbles and Rocketbook!