Owning a private swimming pool is a dream for many. However, it’s an expensive one. This led Bunim Laskin to launch Swimply, an online marketplace that allows users to rent private pools by the hour. Often compared to Airbnb, he pitched his startup on Shark Tank but was unable to get a deal. Based on reported growth and funding, Swimply is worth an estimated $30 million.
Bunim Laskin’s Background
Bunim Laskin is a private person, but it is known that he’s from Lakewood, New Jersey. He’s the eldest of 12 children, which is why he spent a lot of time looking for ways to entertain his younger siblings as a teen.
One day, he noticed that a neighbor didn’t use their swimming pool that often. So, he kindly asked if his family could use it in exchange for paying 25% of the pool maintenance.
The neighbor agreed, and five other families made the same deal with Bunim. Soon he realized this could be a scalable business. At the time, he was 20 years old and was attending Talmudic College of Florida.
Founding Swimply
As a young adult, he started Swimply in 2018 and it was considered the first online marketplace for renting private swimming pools. Bunim launched a beta version, featuring only four pools in the New Jersey area.
Later on, he used Google Earth to find homes with pools. He even knocked on their doors to convince owners to sign up to his marketplace. This strategy signed up the first 100 pools and helped generate momentum.
Family and friends gave him $30,000 to officially launch the business in 2019. The entrepreneur raised around $1.2 million in funding after getting over 400 reservations.
Shark Tank Appearance
Despite the massive capital investment he had just bagged, Laskin believed it would be smart to get extra help from on Shark Tank. In 2020, he appeared on season 11 of the show, offering 5% equity for $300,000.
The fast-talking entrepreneur claimed that Swimply could make $15 million in profit by the end of 2020. However, Barbara Corcoran and Kevin O’Leary thought his forecasts were too excessive. Barbara announced she was out because she didn’t understand the business.
Lori Greiner and Mark Cuban liked the business model, as it was similar to Airbnb, but they still had doubts about projections. Robert Herjavec said the valuation was impossible to achieve, and Laskin was left without a deal.
Success After Shark Tank
Swimply has gone on to become one of the top reject success stories on Shark Tank. Shortly after its episode aired, the pandemic struck the economy. This forced public pools to shut down, but private ones remained open. They saw an estimated 4,000% increase in revenue on the back of this.
This helped them reach over $1 million in revenue as it was receiving 15,000 to 20,000 reservations per month. This sparked a Series A investment round that raised $40 million in 2021. The round was led by Mayfield and a couple of angel investors, including former Airbnb co-founder, Nate Blecharczyk.
The Swimply app has since surpassed 250,000 downloads across iOS and Android, maintaining an average rating of 4.8 stars from more than 25,000 reviews.
The platform generates revenue through host and guest service fees, with many hosts reportedly earning thousands of dollars per month. For example, there is a couple in Portland who have made $85,000 renting out their backyard hot tub and ping pong table. as reported by Business Insider.
As of December 2025, Swimply operates across the United States, Canada, and Australia, employs around 74 full-time staff, and is active in 125+ cities. The company has expanded beyond pools to include courts, backyards, hot tubs, heated pools, and seasonal offerings such as winter igloos.
Swimply is estimated to generate around $10 million in annual revenue, with an estimated company valuation of approximately $30 million.
