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What happened to the Scan app from Shark Tank?

What happened to the Scan app from Shark Tank?

The Scan app first appeared on Shark Tank in season 12, episode 3 which aired on October 4, 2020. The app was pitched by entrepreneurs Garrett Gee and Stephen Cannon who were seeking an investment of $1 million in exchange for 10% equity in their company Scan. Here’s a quick rundown of what happened to the Scan app after their appearance on Shark Tank:

The Pitch

Garrett and Stephen pitched their app called Scan which allowed users to easily scan, organize, and share receipts and documents from their phone. The app used optical character recognition (OCR) technology to extract key information from scanned documents like totals, dates, merchant names, etc. and organize them. This eliminated the need for manual data entry and made it easy for users to track expenses, mileage, and other key information from receipts and documents.

Some of the key features highlighted in their pitch included:

  • Scan documents in seconds with mobile phone camera
  • App extracts text, analyzes, and organizes data
  • Built-in tools for expense tracking and reporting
  • Easy extraction of key fields like total amount, date, merchant, etc.
  • Secure cloud storage and ability to share scans

Garrett and Stephen shared that they already had over 650,000 users who had performed over 20 million scans using the app. They were profitable and doing over $200,000 in monthly revenue at the time. The founders asked the sharks for $1 million for 10% equity in their business.

Shark Reactions

The sharks were impressed with Scan’s existing traction and revenue numbers. They saw value in the technology and capabilities offered by the app. Here are some key reactions from the sharks:

  • Mark Cuban complimented their bootstrapping abilities but was out due to a dislike for OCR companies.
  • Kevin O’Leary made an offer of $1 million for 20% equity
  • Robert Herjavec was very positive and made an offer of $1 million for 15%
  • Daymond John liked the business model but wanted 17.5% equity
  • Lori Greiner felt it was too much equity and was out

The Deal

After going back and forth with a few sharks, Garrett and Stephen decided to accept Robert Herjavec’s offer of $1 million for 15% equity in Scan.

What Happened After Shark Tank

After their successful pitch on Shark Tank, here are some of the key things that happened with Scan and their business:

  • They got a huge boost in visibility and brand awareness from being featured on the show. This resulted in over 1 million downloads of the Scan app within just a few months of their appearance.
  • The $1 million investment from Robert Herjavec helped them accelerate development of the app and several new features. This included advanced expense reporting, receipt OCR in multiple languages, and tighter platform integrations.
  • The company continued its rapid growth trajectory, reaching over 10 million scans within a year after Shark Tank.
  • In late 2021, Scan was acquired by expense management software company Expensify. The acquisition price was rumored to be in the range of $100-$150 million.
  • Under Expensify, the Scan app continued to operate and serve customers. Many of its capabilities were integrated into Expensify’s broader expense management platform.
  • Garrett and Stephen joined Expensify following the acquisition and continued to remain involved with product development for the Scan app.

Traction and Revenue Growth

Here is a look at some key traction and revenue numbers for Scan before and after Shark Tank:

Metric Pre-Shark Tank 1 Year Post-Shark Tank
Valuation $10 million $100-$150 million (at time of acquisition)
Total Downloads 650,000 Over 10 million
Monthly Revenue $200,000 $2.5 million (estimated)

As the numbers show, Scan experienced very impressive growth after their Shark Tank appearance, leading to an exit valuation of 10-15x within roughly a year.

Reasons for Success

There are several key reasons why Scan found great success and growth after their appearance on Shark Tank:

Useful and Convenient Concept

Scan solved a major pain point around organizing receipts and documents in a seamless mobile-first manner. The convenience and utility of the app led to rapid user adoption.

Polished App and UX

The app itself was very well-designed and easy to use. Extracting key data from scans and organizing them proved very intuitive.

Robert Herjavec’s Guidance

Getting Robert Herjavec as an investor was invaluable. His experience scaling technology companies helped take Scan to the next level.

Timing of Market Need

The rise of remote work and mobile access increased the need for digitizing and tracking paper documents and receipts.

Post-Shark Tank Publicity

Appearing on the show gave Scan massive publicity, introducing it to millions of viewers and potential users.

What Happened to Scan App Today

As mentioned earlier, Scan was acquired by Expensify in 2021. The app continues to be available under the Expensify umbrella. Users can download the Scan app on iOS and Android. Key features that were hallmarks of the original Scan app have now been integrated into the broader Expensify platform.

Conclusion

Appearing on Shark Tank proved an enormously beneficial move for the Scan app. The founders were able to land an investor in Robert Herjavec who helped accelerate their growth and traction. The publicity from the show also introduced them to millions of potential new users. While Scan is no longer an independent company, the app and technology continues to live on after acquisition by Expensify. For Garrett and Stephen, their Shark Tank appearance provided that crucial boost needed to take their app from fledgling startup to successful exit.