Kobee's Lip Balm: What Happened To The Brand After Shark Tank?

While beauty and skincare shelves are often jam-packed with products from hundreds of brands, some targeting specific concerns, others are unexpected beauty products that will give you a multipurpose routine, all in the name of helping you feel your best — but it's not always best for the environment. With that in mind, a new generation of founders has emerged, not only curating staple products, but putting sustainability at the forefront of their mission. Enter Kobe Harris, founder of Kobee's Lip Balms. In 2019, Harris was a college student at Loyola University Chicago pursuing a career as a doctor when he and a professor conducted a study on bees and sustainability — a project that changed his life for good.

He invested $200, loaned to him by his mom, to purchase the lip balm ingredients and sustainable packaging, and used his summer lifeguarding co-workers as a focus group to test products, which clearly worked in his favor. By the end of that summer, Kobee's Lip Balms sold as much as $15,000 in one day, so naturally his next step was to enter the Shark Tank. The young founder showed up sharp and unfazed for most of his pitch, prompting cheers and claps from the panelists as he told us his story. While proud of his entrepreneurial spirit (even guest panelist Kendra Scott related to his pursuit), all of the sharks except one backed out of the deal. Robert O'Leary presented a deal that Harris unfortunately could refuse, leaving the shark tank empty-handed.

When Kobe Harris appeared on a season 16 episode of "Shark Tank," he knew exactly what he wanted. His lip balms, formulated with beeswax, coconut oil, sunflower seed oil, and mango butter to "lock in moisture, trust, and transparency," were the highlight of the brand; however, they quickly expanded into lip scrubs, lotion bars, cuticle oils, and hand salves. Looking to see which shark was ready to "pucker up and join the Kobee's hive," he asked for a $300,000 investment for a 6% stake in the company. With some intrigue from the sharks, he explained that his business model focused solely on direct-to-consumer online sales and an Amazon store. After Harris learned how to utilize social media, running Facebook ads and creating TikTok videos, Kobee's Lip Balms hit its stride and reached $1.5 million in sales, on track to end the year with a net profit ranging from $700,00 to $800,000.

Lori Greiner was the first shark to back out of the deal given the already crowded market for natural lip balms. Citing the same reasons, Kendra Scott, Mark Cuban, and Daymond Green also backed out of the deal, leaving Harris with Kevin O'Leary's proposal of $300,00 for a 20% stake in the company. After some negotiating, the panelist brought it down to a 15% stake, but it still wasn't worth it to Harris, and he respectfully declined the deal.

Kobe Harris' 2024 appearance on "Shark Tank" was a true lesson in business: Just because you receive an offer doesn't mean you have to take it — especially if it's not the right one for you. Following his pitch, the clip of Harris bargaining with Kevin O'Leary, asking him why he would give up a stake in his company when he could get a loan, garnered over 80 million views and 5 million likes, boosting the sales of his business significantly. 

Afterward, the company began expanding its product line with SPF balms and different varieties of their lip scrubs and hand salves. For the founder, walking away from the deal wasn't a final blow to him or his business. "I was confident with what I was doing and what I was building. I knew I was going to be fine later down the line," he said during the brand's 7th anniversary YouTube featurette.

Much like fellow "Shark Tank" competitor Aliyah Marandiz of Sugardoh Hair Removal, Kobee's Lip Balm is still in business at the time of writing. In fact, the brand sees $3 to 4 million in yearly revenue with a total estimated net worth of $14 million (per Shark Tank Companies). Part of the brand's success is still its transparency and practicality — components that were crucial to Kobe Harris during his pitch. For one, their website displays a handful of FAQs acknowledging and breaking down consumers' concerns. One notes that some lip balms may arrive lumpy or grainy but assures consumers that their suppliers and manufacturing practices remain the same — it's a result of the mango butter's physical properties.

Additionally, their products are on the more affordable side, including $7 lip balms, $56 hand balms, and $41 lotion sticks. With consistent sales, seasonal flavors, and consumer praise for their next-level hydration and multipurpose usage, Kobee's Lip Balms are some of the best "Shark Tank" beauty products you can still buy today.

As of August 2026, Kobee's Lip Balms continues to build on the foundation the brand set. Kobe Harris is giving back with his most recent Kobee50 New England circuit. The founder visited states along the East Coast to donate beehives to local beekeepers so Kobee's Lip Balm has a local source of beeswax for their products. 

For new varieties of the brand's core products, you can typically count on limited-edition flavors to be featured during different seasons and holidays, including candy corn, pumpkin spice, and raspberry rose. When it comes to adding new products to their roster, Harris believes in slow and steady, quality over quantity manufacturing. "We're not just thinking about how we can grow into the next product; we're also thinking about how that next product is not only going to affect the business as a whole but the people it's going to be touching when it goes out," he explained in his brand's YouTube featurette.

But the most important thing for the founder is to serve as a role model to help others believe in themselves. "I would want people to know that they can bet on themselves and bet on their ideas and make something that not only impacts themself but impacts the other people around them," he emphasized.