Mad Rabbit is a tattoo aftercare firm that Selom Agbitor co-founded with Oliver Zak, a university senior who struggled to take care of his tattoo. Entrepreneur reports that Zak discovered petroleum jelly remedies could not relieve his tattoo-related scabs. Agbitor and Zack made the decision to create a vegan, all-natural tattoo-healing solution.
“So we ended up ordering a bunch of ingredients from Amazon and a crockpot and trying recipe after recipe after recipe going off of the feedback of my mom’s apothecary experience,” Zak told the outlet. “That product [a spot moisturizer for tattoos with a shea and cocoa butter base] ended up being the product that we ran with for the first two years.”
Agbitor and his business partner made the decision to convert their side project into a full-time employment after graduating. He and Zak relocated to Los Angeles as part of this, where they spoke with manufacturers and intensified their use of Facebook ads and paid media to develop their brands.
Within two years, what began as a side project generated close to $3 million in income. Following their 2020 appearance on “Shark Tank,” the company struck a $500,000 deal with Mark Cuban for a 12% share.
“I know my parents are going to be really happy,” Agbitor said at the time, according to CNBC. “I’m going to be an inspiration to my friends back home in Ghana.”
The Entrepreneur claims that after Agbitor and his business partner’s Shark Tank debut, Mad Rabbit generated an extra $500,000 in sales. Additionally, this helped the business enter the venture capital market by introducing it to Joshua Siegel, general partner of Acronym Venture Capital.
Mad Rabbit announced a $10 million Series A investment in March of this year, with Mark Cuban, Acronym Venture Capital, and H Venture Partners leading the round. The brand’s valuation increased to $56 million as a result of this.
Additionally, retail behemoths like Walmart now carry their products. According to a recent announcement from the company, Agbitor and his crew are working with Walmart on “a kind of tattoo roadshow,” where they visit Walmart locations around the country to “get people excited to come get tattooed, hopefully in the parking lot.”