Shark Tank’s Dr Catriona Wallace bets big on diverse startups

Dr Catriona Wallace has invested in a number of startups founded by women and young people in the aftermath of Shark Tank Australia’s 2023 season, saying she was pleased to focus on diversity, as well as ethical and environmental businesses.

Dr Wallace, the founder of artificial intelligence fintech Flamingo AI and the Responsible Metaverse Alliance was one of five venture capitalists to join Shark Tank Australia in 2023, alongside Jane Lu, Sabri Suby, Davie Fogart and Robert Herjavec.

In a post to LinkedIn this week, Dr Wallace revealed that she had invested in a number of businesses that had been pitched to the Sharks on the program. Five of the six startups are founded by women or young people.

The businesses include:

• Yaala Sparkling, co-founded by Tara Croker and Mel Davey, is an Indigenous-led flavoured sparkling water company. Tara Croker was previously named a finalist in the 2023 Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards.

• Sock Drawer Heroes, by Erin Spencer and Bec Cerio, a world-class online and physical shop dedicated to products that support Gender Euphoria for Trans and Gender diverse people.

• Glossy Boys by teenager Lucas Lane and his mother, Breanna Lane, a business providing top-quality nail polish for boys.

• Cinnamon Cove, by teenagers Myla and Liv, providing stylish and age-appropriate swimwear for tweens.

• Kaasida, by Akanksha Rai Sinha, specialising in hand-made embroidery clothes supporting women artisans in India.

• Nevabuds, founded by Nevada Smith, a startup providing a range of clippable headphones so that you don’t lose your earbuds.

“I am so pleased that on the show I was able to be my true self – focused on diversity and inclusion, ethical business and products and the environment — and now I have six fabulous businesses and their entrepreneurs to support,” Dr Wallace shared.

“Wishing an incredible 2024 to these young Australian companies – and hoping the LinkedIn community can also support these epic individuals and their super great products. 🙏🏻🥰🦈🐬”

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A post shared by Catriona Wallace (@catrionawallace)

Dr Wallace also clarified how the investment process works on Shark Tank, noting that Sharks are not paid to be on the program and they use their own money to invest.

“Once the show is filmed the production company and broadcaster are no longer involved in the investment transactions. It’s just the individual Shark and the company who was successful in pitching on the program,” she said.

“Once a Shark makes an offer on the program then we go into standard investment Due Diligence (DD) with the entrepreneur and their company. The Shark pays their own legal and other costs of conducting DD and getting the deal done. Sometimes in DD the Shark and/or the entrepreneur may agree not to go ahead with the deal. So not all deals on the show go through to completion.”

A former police officer, Wallace is a trailblazer in the Australian entrepreneurial and artificial intelligence sectors. In 2016, her company Flamingo AI became the second-ever female-led business to list on the ASX. She has also founded the Responsible Metaverse Alliance, an organisation working with with politicians, government officials, regulators and policymakers to address the potential harms of the metaverse.

This article was first published by Women’s Agenda.