Denver startup on ‘Shark Tank’ signs deal with Raising Cane’s CEO

DENVER — A Denver-based company entered ABC’s “Shark Tank” television show last week and came out with a $300,000 investment from the CEO of a popular fast food chain.

Zhach Pham and Steven Graf, the founders of RigStrips, a Denver-based startup that sells gear holsters aiming to protect vehicles from damage if gear slides down their cars, witnessed their company take off quickly after its launch in 2020. They were recruited to pitch their company to “Shark Tank’s” celebrity investors for the show’s episode that aired last Friday.

The entrepreneurs struck a deal with the show’s guest venture capitalist “shark,” Todd Graves, CEO and founder of Raising Cane’s, a chicken finger restaurant chain.

RigStrips’ founders went in asking for a $300,000 investment for a 7.5% stake in the company. They eventually inked a deal with Graves to give him a a 15% stake in the company for the $300,000.

“We fully almost didn’t do the show just thinking through all the additional steps it was going to take and knowing it may all be for nothing,” Pham said. “So this was a very full circle moment for me after doing this for so long.”

> Read the full story at the Denver Business Journal.