Wondry Wine Skyrocketed to Success Thanks to Mark Cuban's Backing; Here's More About its Journey

Shark Mark Cuban's razor-sharp business acumen behind Wondry Wine's success

Less than 1 percent of winemakers are Black… Our goal is to remove barriers that are keeping members of our community from pursuing their passion, Whitney Gates, CEO, WONDRY Wine

Mark Cuban isn't just one among the line-up of "Shark Tank" judges, but validation from him means that a business idea has immense potential to hit the mark. Chaz and Whitney Gates' Wondry Wine first found visibility in the 14th season of “Shark Tank”, where they were able to impress the judges with a fruit-infused wine and sangria collection. The couple secured an investment of $225,000 from Mark Cuban for a 15% equity in the firm, at a time when Wondry Wine's total revenue was just $250,000. But that has now jumped 400% to hit $1.1 million in a matter of just 11 months. The couple returned on the show to share their amazing story and express their gratitude to Mark Cuban, whose investment acted as a catalyst for their business.

The journey from $250,000 to $1.1 Million

When Wondry Wine appeared on "Shark Tank" in Nov 2022, they were a Texas-based local wine maker, but the show gave them much-needed exposure and boosted sales by 1000%. Weeks after the deal, Mark Cuban introduced the company founders to national alcohol distributor Southern Glazer’s, which landed the wine placement in many restaurants, airlines, and retail facilities across the United States. The retail store presence of Wondry Wine has since jumped by 700%, and it is now available in 400 retail stories, making it a nationally recognizable brand. Today the company operates from a 10,000 square feet space, and sells its products in around 40 states.

What makes Wondry Wine stand out?

Whitney was inspired by her late uncle, who was an expert winemaker, and both her and Chaz noticed many gaps in the wine industry, to come up with the vision to create something that could revolutionize the wine-making industry. The juicy profile of the wine, which comes from the organic extracts used to make them, gives them an edge over other wines existing in the market. The Gates couple is also one of less than 1% of Black American winemakers. To learn more about winemaking, Whitney took classes at Grayson College, while Chaz continued with his job at Texas Instruments to support the family. Once they identified what they needed to do, the couple sold off their rental properties to gather $100,000 as an initial capital fund for the startup.

Meet the Shark who believed in Wondry

Mark Cuban is an American billionaire who features as one of the sharks in ABC’s reality show "Shark Tank." He has made over 420 investments across different industries including Pharma, Cryptocurrency, Stocks, and others. The 64-year-old billionaire also has majority stakes in Dallas Mavericks, which is now valued at $4.5 billion. Investing in tech giants like Amazon and Netflix has been one of his best decisions which helped him make billions.

The man who started his entrepreneurial journey at the young age of 12 by selling garbage bags door to door, has a current net worth of $6.37 billion.