The VaBroom is a clever combo of a vacuum cleaner and a broom. With it, you simply need to pile up the mess, and the vacuum part of the device will take care of the rest. The product was invented by John Vadnais and Trevor Lambert and they secured a deal with Kevin O’Leary. As of 2023, VaBroom is worth an estimated $10 million.
About the Founders
Trevor Lambert is from Champlin, Minnesota. He attended the University of St. Thomas, where he started coming up with different inventions. In 2010, Trevor founded a design firm called Enhance Innovations to be the home for his creations.
With Enhance Innovations, he was hired by other businesses to help them with licensing. That’s how Trevor met John Vadnais. John has an MBA from Bemidji State University and owns Vadco Innovations. Although only the two of them appeared on Shark Tank, there are six other partners involved in the business.
Establishing VaBroom
Joseph Caswell is the original inventor of VaBroom. After making the final design of the vacuum and broom hybrid, he went to John and Trevor to ink a licensing deal with Enhance Innovations.
As inventors themselves, they already have a solid track record of bringing products to market. The pair had a feeling that Joseph’s creation was the real deal. So, they became partners with Caswell, along with five other people.
John invested $200,000 into the startup, but the team felt it wasn’t enough to start mass production. They started a Kickstarter campaign and raised over $74,000. The product was released in 2020 and generated $3.1 million in sales in 2021.
Shark Tank Appearance
The product was already highly successful, but they needed to raise more capital to fund inventory. The guys appeared on season 13 of Shark Tank, asking for $350,000 for 2.5% equity.
John dramatically tumbled over and spilled some nuts as they entered the Tank to demonstrate the product. The Sharks were shocked when they revealed they had $3.1 million in revenue over the last 12 months. Out of the sum, the company had a net profit of $300,000.
Kevin O’Leary’s ears perked up when he heard the word “royalty”. None of the other Sharks expressed an interest as the company’s structure was complicated. Mr. Wonderful offered $350,000 for 2.5% equity in the design firm plus a $3 royalty per unit until he got back $700,000.
The founders tried to counter but eventually agreed. Kevin sealed the deal by saying, “I buy a new broom for Barbara every year so she can fly around.”
After Shark Tank
After the episode aired, Trevor and John got a lot of media attention and were featured on several websites such as Digital Trends, TikTok and the Daily Mail. Because of this, their sales peaked a few weeks after the episode. You can buy the cleaning tool on VaBroom.com, Amazon, Walmart, Lowe’s, and Bed Bath & Beyond.
It appears the deal with Kevin O’Leary hasn’t closed yet as Vabroom isn’t listed on his website along with his other Shark Tank investments. Possibly, the royalty aspect of the deal sucked up too much capital that is needed for inventory.
The product has a 3.5-star rating from more than 1,200 reviews on Amazon. No recent sales figures have been released as they only recently featured on the show. Currently, the business is valued at an estimated $10 million.
