Company Building Machines For Fresh Plant-Based Milk Receives $2 Million Investement From Mark Cuban

Billionaire Mark Cuban has just made his biggest ever investment in a vegan business on ABC's 'Shark Tank'.

He offered 2 million dollars to fresh plant-based milk machine maker Numilk. 

Numilk is a food-tech startup founded by Ari Tolwin and Joe Savino in 2018. The company makes plant-based milk kiosk machines that can be installed in grocery shops 

The duo pitched their idea to investors on the latest episode on Friday. 

Tolwin said on the show: “Sharks, milk today means something totally different than what the milkman used to deliver to our homes.”

“Sure, some of us still drink cow’s milk, but most of us have switched to almond milk, oat milk or even hemp milk.”

“We built a custom machine for grocery stores where shoppers can make pure, dairy-free milk at the push of a button,” he said. “The milk has a 7-to-10 day shelf-life and it has to stay in the fridge.”

The machines make a variety of drinks like almond milk, oat milk, lattes and protein shakes.  Numilk customer has to spend $2.00 for a special reusable bottle, and then they’ll spend $3.99 every time they fill the bottle with fresh plant-based milk.

The  machine costs $30,000 to manufacture but the company estimated that the individual kiosk generates $50,000 in revenue per year. Numilk also offers stainless-steel, countertop for cafes and coffee shops, which they sell for $699 each and plans to plans to roll out a small countertop for in-home use to be sold for $199. Both the professional units and the at-home 

Mark Cuban was impressed by the machine, calling it “fast” and “cool.” “The milk I just made is incredible,” he said. “You can tell it’s fresh almonds.”

Despite the company's history of losing money, Cuban decided to invest. 

“I obviously love the stainless-steel version that you’re putting in coffee shops right now,” he said. “I think that’ll sell like hotcakes at home. I think you’ll sell a million units easily.”

“I’m going to give you $2 million. One million [dollars] of that is going to be for 7% equity. The other million is going to be a loan at 3% interest, but I get an additional 3% of stock as advisory shares or straight up equity,” he said. “But, if you don’t use the loan, you don’t have to give me the additional 3%. So in total, if you use all the capital, it’s $2 million for 10%.”

The investment give their company the $20 million valuation.