Biodegradable coffee pod manufacturer iCapsulate was offered the biggest ever deal on Shark Tank Australia but sadly it never closed! iCapsulate went from hero to zero as it became one of the reality show’s biggest busts. Andrew Banks withdrew his offer after discovering claims made by founder Kane Bodiam were false. As of 2023, iCapsulate is worth $0 and went out of business in 2018.
About the Founder
Kane Bodiam is from Sydney, Australia, and is a mechanical engineering graduate from the University of Technology Sydney. At university, he specialized in coffee machine repairs and became a coffee machine technician.
He was hired as a technical expert at Gloria Jean’s Coffee and the Dutch beverage company Douwe Egberts. Kane also worked at Mad Coffee Capsule, but he claimed on social media that he was the owner of the roasting company.
Because of this, his former employer took him to court in 2015. The judge concluded that Bodiam engaged in misleading conduct and ordered him to stop pretending to be a Mad Coffee Capsule executive.
Establishing the Company
Kane defended himself by stating that he was just a victim of a defamation campaign. Whether it’s true or not, he was determined to start his own coffee company.
Despite previous legal troubles, he had enough experience to build a company from the ground up. In 2016, iCapsulate was officially introduced to the market. They promoted their product as the first biodegradable coffee pods on the market.
After a year and a half, the founder claimed his business was manufacturing 35 million pods for their own coffee stores and some well-known brands in Australia and New Zealand. He reported $4 million in annual revenue for 2017.
Shark Tank Appearance
After practicing his pitch over 500 times, Kane Bodiam appeared in season three of Shark Tank Australia in 2017. He came in with a bold request of $2.5 million for 15% of his company.
The investors were caught off guard, and they listened closely when the founder started sharing iCapsulate’s numbers. They were impressed at how the company was able to pull in millions in revenue in such a short period of time. Kane also shared that he rejected a $25 million offer to sell the business.
Steve Baxter was very skeptical of the data provided, and he was right to feel so. However, Andrew Banks, Glen Richards, and Naomi Simson took the bait and battled it out. Andrew won with an offer of $2.5 million for 22.5%.
After Shark Tank
Andrew Banks and Kane Bodiam made the second largest deal in Shark Tank history after Zipz Wine. Sadly the deal never closed.
Eight months after making the deal on television, Kane was questioned about all the claims he made during his pitch. It was revealed that iCapsulate were not in any recognizable retail chains at all, and they weren’t the only company that made biodegradable coffee pods.
iCapsulate was placed into administration in 2018. Kane tried to explain this was due to an internal dispute between directors and shareholders. Bodiam relocated to the UK and opened up another coffee business, BBC Coffee. The company is based in Southampton and according to their website, they can manufacture over 2.2 million capsules per day.
