Roq Innovation aims to create products to make everyone’s life a little easier. The company flagship product is Headlightz, perfect for situations where you need an extra hand in the dark. Raquel Graham pitched her stylish hats on Shark Tank and struck a deal with Kevin O’Leary and Peter Jones. Currently, Roq Innovations is worth an estimated $3 million.
Founders’ Background: Raquel’s Journey
Raquel Graham is a mother of two from Chicago, Illinois and studied history and economics at Wesleyan University. Graham later got her MBA at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Even before getting an MBA, Raquel worked as an operations analyst at JP Morgan. Around this time, she also founded her first company, ROQ Marketing Group, In 2002, she served as the vice president of EBONY Media.
Founding Roq Innovation
At first, Raquel created simple hats for her kids. Eventually, she realized that there was a trend for fashionable clothes with functionality, which inspired her to start a clothing line. The first product she worked on were scarves that were not itchy.
Then, Raquel thought of an innovative solution for hands-free lighting, designing beanies and headbands with removable 140-lumen LED lights. It’s for outdoor activities and any other tasks in the dark.
Roq Innovation officially launched in 2013. As for Headlightz, Raquel applied for a patent in 2018. Within a few years, the product did over $1.1 million in revenue, which contributed to the company’s $2.4 million in lifetime sales.
Shark Tank Recap
Raquel Graham was a one-woman show and needed help to scale the company. She appeared on season 13 of Shark Tank, seeking $200,000 for 15% equity stake.
The Sharks loved her energy and were impressed with sales. Despite a strong start the pitch was a bit rocky as the Sharks didn’t like that the patent was still pending at the time. Kevin O’Leary made the first move and of course, he wanted a royalty deal in perpetuity.
Guest Shark Peter Jones then proposed a simple offer of $200,000 for 25%. After a heated discussion, the two agreed to invest $200,000 for 20% and $1 royalty per hat until they recovered $600,000. Raquel was desperate for a deal and accepted the offer.
Shrark Tank Update: The Future of Roq Innovation
After appearing on Shark Tank, Roq Innovations got a lot of media attention and featured on publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur and Oprah Daily. This helped drive a huge uplift in sales and they also secured a patent to help protect their idea.
Roq Innovation have created new designs for beanies, headbands, and baseball caps. Apart from hats, they now sell scarves and masks. You can check them out on their website, Roq-Inoovation.com. In 2022, the business made around $4 million. Sales have doubled since appearing on the show!
In March 2023, the deal with Kevin O’Leary and Peter Jones finally closed. The company has an Amazon store and continues to appear on the Home Shopping Network. Their latest hat products, the baseball caps, average 4 stars from customer ratings on Amazon. As of 2023, Roq Innovations is valued at $3 million.
