What Happened To The Hopscotch App From Shark Tank Season 12?
As any "Shark Tank" fan can attest, most of the entrepreneurs who step into the studio are fronting intriguing start-up concepts they hope will become the next big thing. But every once in a while, someone walks in with a well-established, even profitable business, hoping to secure enough capital to turn it into an industry standard, and that's essentially what happened during a Season 12 episode that saw the Hopscotch Technologies founder Samantha John shaking down the sharks for a $400,000 investment.
If you're unfamiliar with Hopscotch, it's an educational software program that helps young coders and those new to the coding world develop their skills by creating simple projects and video games that can be run, played, and shared through an app. Before walking into the "Shark Tank" studio, John had already turned Hopscotch into one of the best-loved coding apps in the game. However, she needed some extra capital to significantly change the company's business model and potentially make the company more profitable. That pitch came more than years ago. Here's what happened to Hopscotch from "Shark Tank."
What happened to Hopscotch on Shark Tank?
Given Hopscotch's station in tech circles heading into the "Shark Tank" pitch, Samantha John opened the proceedings with an air of confidence. Heck, early in the pitch, even outgoing shark Mark Cuban sang the company's praises, admitting he and his family had been using Hopscotch for years. But earning a kind word from a shark is easier than convincing one to invest in your company, and after making her pitch, John found the bulk of the panelists were wary of kicking her $400,000 for a mere 4% equity stake in Hopscotch.
Indeed, most of the sharks were quick to pass on the prospective deal, with many noting that they didn't think John's plan to alter Hopscotch's revenue stream from a subscription base was wise. Being the fan that he already was, Cuban wasn't so quick to pass. Unfortunately for John, the "Shark Tank" star opened negotiations with the dreaded statement, "I'll make you an offer, but you're not gonna like it." He then offered to stake John the requested $400,000 but asked for a whopping 16% of Hopscotch in return.
True to Cuban's word, John was not particularly hot to take the deal, with the two promptly embarking on a heated negotiation. In the end, they met somewhere in the middle as Cuban agreed to front John more capital ($550,000) for an 11% stake in Hopscotch.
What happened to Hopscotch after Shark Tank?
Even if it cost her more of her company than she might've wanted, Samantha John was overjoyed at securing a deal with Mark Cuban for more capital than she'd initially sought. Cuban seemed happy enough as well and was already plotting to build Hopscotch into his non-profit organization aimed at helping kids learn to code. With both sides of the deal feeling good about the outcome, John was even more happy with what happened after the "Shark Tank" episode aired, telling Buzzfeed in 2021 that Hopscotch saw a 500% increase in App Store downloads.
During the same interview, John also claimed Cuban had become a welcome advisor to her company and that they'd regularly been in touch since "Shark Tank." It's been over two years since John granted that Buzzfeed interview, but it remains unclear if the lucrative "Shark Tank" deal ever actually closed. That's in no small part because Hopscotch is not currently listed among Cuban's "Shark Tank" investments.
Perhaps more telling is that Hopscotch remains largely a subscription-based platform, meaning John has maybe never had the cash on hand to pivot into the pay-per-download model she pitched on "Shark Tank." Nonetheless, business remains solid for the Hopscotch team, with the app having been downloaded a reported 24 million times and the company boasting the creation of approximately 36 million games by its users.
What's next for Hopcotch?
Whether or not Mark Cuban is involved with Hopscotch, the company has continued to claim status as one of the top coding apps in the educational technology game. Despite the app's popularity, Samantha John and her team have not indicated exactly what they have planned for the company's future.
In 2022, they did branch out from their subscription-based platform by launching the Game Developer Workshop, which offered users a live, online workshop experience to beef up their game-coding skills. But it appears the Game Developer Workshop was a one-time deal, as Hopscotch has not offered live classes since. Even with the app continuing to earn raves from users, now more than a decade into its existence, Hopscotch could arguably use some fresh innovation to bolster its market appeal. Still, if Hopscotch chooses to stay the course for now, the company's future remains bright, even in an increasingly crowded market for coding apps.