Where Is Cabinet Health From Shark Tank Season 14 Today?
It's no secret that plastic waste is of critical concern to the health of our planet. Single-use plastics, in particular, are one of the major contributing factors to this growing problem — a problem that Cabinet Health founders Achal Patel and Russ Gong brought to the judges' attention on season 14 of "Shark Tank."
Dedicated to addressing the issue, the entrepreneurs created Cabinet Health, a sustainable healthcare company that offers over-the-counter medicines and supplements that come in refillable, compostable, and plastic-free packaging (via Cabinet Health). They also help customers with the process of switching their current prescription medications to plastic-free containers. The idea for the company was inspired by the work of Patel's grandfather in India, who created one of the first acetaminophen factories. Armed with their joint knowledge of medicine and sustainable product development, Patel and Gong aimed to strike a $500,000 deal in exchange for a 2.5% stake in the company.
An impressive pitch from Cabinet Health
The entrepreneurs opened their pitch with a little educational background, stating how 190 billion single-use plastic medicine bottles are produced by the medicine industry annually (via Shark Tank Products). Painting a more vivid picture, Gong explained how that number is high enough to form a line of bottles from Los Angeles to Australia 325 times over.
If viewers were hoping for a more uplifting statistic when the entrepreneurs brought up recycling, those hopes were instantly dashed when Patel shared that only between 3% and 7% of medicine bottles undergo recycling. Where do the rest end up? Polluting the planet or ingested by humans in the form of microplastics, they said. Prompting an audible "wow" from Barbara Corcoran, the entrepreneurs pointed out that the amount of microplastics that make their way into our bodies is the equivalent of eating one credit card a week.
While the company certainly showed promise — so much so, that they projected earnings of $14 billion for 2022 — Mark Cuban questioned as to why Cabinet Health had yet to make any financial gain (via CNBC). The entrepreneurs explained that their profits were being funneled towards research and development, as each of their containers required FDA approval.
Did Cabinet Health seal the deal?
In the end, Cabinet Health piqued the interest of not one, but two sharks. Kevin O'Leary and guest shark Tony Xu agreed to the $500,000 investment but asked for a greater share in the company than the 2.5% originally pitched by the entrepreneurs (via CNBC). Ultimately, both sharks, as well as Patel and Gong, agreed to a divided 7% stake between the two investors with added royalties of up to 2% per product.
Even before their time on "Shark Tank," Cabinet Health was already partnering with additional healthcare organizations to make environmentally sustainable medicine options accessible to all. This included a partnership with the Celiac Disease Foundation in 2021 which involved gluten-free medicine options for patients. Since striking their "Shark Tank" deal in January 2023, however, Cabinet Health has grown exponentially, expanding even further, and proving that the sky is truly the limit.
Where Cabinet Health is now and what's to come
In May of 2023, Cabinet Health made its way to drugstore shelves in more than 700 retail pharmacies in the U.S. "Cabinet's expansion into retail is a leap forward for both the company and the healthcare industry as a whole," Gong stated, as reported via Business Wire. "Cabinet is the first and only sustainability packaged option for medicine in the OTC aisle today." Ever since Cabinet Health came onto the scene, they've spared the environment what would have been over 50,000 more pounds of plastic waste.
Today, Cabinet Health is exploring new ways to keep costs low for consumers, including a limited-time offer in which customers can purchase $20 worth of Cabinet Health products at their local CVS, send the company a picture of the receipt, and get $5 sent back to their Venmo or PayPal account (via Cabinet Health Twitter).
So what's next on the horizon for Cabinet Health? It appears the company is already gearing up for a dynamite 2024. Currently up for consideration by SXSW, Cabinet Health is asking for online votes to win a coveted panel speaker spot at the festival next year.