Stem Center USA Update | Shark Tank Season 7
Sisters Lavanya and Melissa Jawaharlal understand the importance of science, technology, engineering, and math. They created a learning center, Stem Center USA, to help students excel in these areas. This membership-based service wows the sharks, but will they be able to make a deal on
Shark Tank Stem Center USA Update
- Entrepreneurs: Lavanya Jawaharlal and Melissa Jawaharlal
- Business: Science, technology, engineering, and math learning center
- Ask: $150,000 for 15% equity
- Result: $200,000 for 20% equity
- Shark: Lori Greiner
Stem Center USA was a membership-based learning center with a STEM curriculum. Lavanya and Melissa understood the importance of this curriculum. Memberships started at $1,400 per year or $135 per month. At the time of filming, the service had 85 members and $135,000 in profits.
While guest shark Chris Sacca loved the idea, Kevin O’Leary left the deal first. He said there were too many spokes, so he went out. Robert Herjavec followed, stating that it was too hard to scale. Mark Cuban went out too because they were too open-ended for him.
Chris thought schools would reach out to them, and offered $150,000 for 25% equity. However, Lavanya and Melissa wanted a $1 million valuation because their sales were projected to be $2.5 million in the next year. They wanted a Stem Center in every city.
Lori cut in to make an offer. She said she would make a better partner as a woman, and offered $150,000 for 20%. Chris asked what they needed a shark for, and Lavanya and Melissa replied that they wanted to franchise. Chris said he wouldn’t share a deal with Lori, so he made an offer of $150,000 for 22.5%.
Lavanya and Melissa asked Lori and Chris if either would consider doing $200,000 for 20% equity, and Lori accepts. They’re all happy to make a deal! See where the company is now in our Stem Center USA update.
Though the company wanted to franchise more than anything, our Stem Center USA update revealed that they haven’t started yet. The deal with Lori didn’t close, but these sisters didn’t stop.
During the pandemic, they used virtual classes to reach over 20,000 students. Annual revenue is about $2 million, even after the pandemic. We’d call that a successful Stem Center USA update!
You can find a location near you or virtual offerings at the Stem Center USA website.
Don’t forget to check out our other company updates from Season 7 Episode 6. You can find them here:
For more company updates and other products, take a look at the Season 7 products page.
Andrew Smith is the founder and owner of Shark Tank Recap. He is a longtime Shark Tank fan that has been watching it for years and has seen every episode multiple times. His friends know him as the Shark Tank expert, because he can answer any question about the show! His favorite Shark Tank products are Bertello's pizza oven and Bug Bite Thing!