The representatives of Slimcase startup with Shark Minh Beta and Shark Binh on the Shark Tank program.
Slimcase is one of the 2 “prey” startups to the 3 “sharks” in the Shark Tank Vietnam season 6, alongside Thuyen Xua. Slimcase’s product is the thinnest phone case in the world, thinner than Apple’s case. Meanwhile, a transparent MagSafe case for iPhone 15 Pro is currently listed by Apple Vietnam at a price of about 1,429,000 VND, triple the price of 400,000 – 500,000 VND of Slimcase.
Starting from Singapore, Slimcase is now present in 20 countries, mainly distributed through online channels with 7 main markets. Among them, Vietnam contributes 37% of total revenue – the largest proportion, followed by the Philippines with about 23%. In 2023, Slimcase is expected to achieve revenue of 4.5 billion VND and profit of 700 million VND. In 2024, revenue can reach 12 billion VND.
Finally, the startup and the investors agreed to a deal where Shark Minh Beta poured 700 million VND for 7%, Shark Le Hung Anh poured 300 million VND for 3%, and Shark Nguyen Hoa Binh poured 200 million VND for 2%. In addition, the condition is that the startup must pay dividends every year.
Appearing in the Shark Tank program, Hai An – Founder & CEO of Slimcase said that on the evening when the startup went on air on Shark Tank, the whole company sat in the office to follow, placing a TV next to the laptop to see how the sales figures were affected.
“From the moment Slimcase started, we saw the number of sales increase. The next day, it increased by 6 times compared to a super normal day“, Hai An revealed.
Hai An (right) and Thanh Long on the air of Shark Tank Vietnam season 6.
Talking more about sales, Thanh Long – Sales Manager of Slimcase said that their average daily sales are 3 times higher in their own market in Vietnam than the days before going on Shark Tank. In addition, TikTok invited Slimcase to directly exchange, cooperate to increase the number of orders for both sides, opening up opportunities in the Vietnamese market as well as other countries.
Hai An is optimistic about the prospects of Slimcase becoming “top of mind” globally for ultra-thin lightweight phone cases. There are 2 main things the startup needs to do: focus on developing a great product and expand to new markets.
“To do that, we definitely need capital and a plan that Slimcase already has“, the founder said.
Faced with the question of whether there is any risk of a “bubble burst” or not, Shark Minh Beta laughed, pointing out that Shark Binh has had a lot of “painful experience” in this matter, especially when a startup brags about the surge in sales thanks to the program’s effect. The Chairman of NextTech even directly mentioned the “bubble burst” tactics of startups appearing on Shark Tank.
“Step 1: after accepting the deal, pretend to be very cooperative, but when the Sharks request to send data, postpone it with many methods, send the data slowly or send it little by little until the program is broadcast.
After going on air, you will cite the reason that the number of orders has increased too much, there is no time to coordinate and appraise with the Sharks. It takes a month or something, then start giving a lot of reasons that make the Sharks discouraged and give up themselves“, Shark Binh stated in the final episode of Shark Tank season 6.
In response to this issue, Hai An confirmed that indeed, after going on Shark Tank, the surge in sales means that the workload increases significantly. However, he asserted that coordinating with the Sharks is also a priority of the company.
“Involving the Sharks, we also have to carefully prepare a business plan for next year, alongside other documents. We definitely want to have an investment. Even though the sales have increased 6 times and we want to have more potential, we definitely need additional capital. If we really get offered capital with a reasonable percentage, there is no reason for us to create a bubble“, Hai An affirmed.
“Capital is important, but the support from the Sharks is also very important. That’s why we really want to have this deal“, Thanh Long added.
