MrBeast has struck a deal on Shark Tank, investing $250,000 alongside Beast Industries CEO Jeff Housenbold for a 55% stake in Ball 2, an AI-powered toy ball.
The pair appeared as guest Sharks on the Season 18 premiere, which aired on September 30. Co-founders Andrew Brown and Kevin Langdon, first cousins from rural Pennsylvania, came in asking for $200,000 for 10% of their company, Sperry Labs.
Ball 2 is a foam ball packed with sensors that measure throws, spins and bounces, and it never needs charging. Players describe a game to the companion app, and its AI builds the rules within moments. During the pitch, the founders created a game called “10 Feet of Death” live in the tank.
The company was founded by a five-person team, including Brown, a game designer who previously worked at Electronic Arts. According to The Cinemaholic, they funded the project themselves without any outside investment.
MrBeast said the toy took him back to his childhood. “I could see myself back when I was 13, 14 years old, you know, talking to the AI,” he said. “I actually see this being very fun.”
He did question the $69 price. “I do see a lot of people going, ‘Wow, $69 for a ball,’” he said.
The founders revealed sales of $74,000 from around 1,300 units since launching less than six months earlier, with each ball costing $13.29 to produce.
Team Beast opened with $300,000 for 66% of the business, pointing to the reach of its existing MrBeast Lab toy line. “We already have a toy company,” Housenbold said. “We distribute in Walmart, in Target, on Amazon.”
The founders asked to drop to 51%, and settled on $250,000 for 55%.
“I can’t wait to make TikToks with these things,” Housenbold said after the deal closed.
