Product Update
Is 54 Thrones Still in Business? (2026 Update)
Is 54 Thrones from Shark Tank still around in 2026? The deal it made, the sharks who invested, and where to buy 54 Thrones today.
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Christina Funke Tegbe brought African shea butter to the Shark Tank stage in Season 13 with a company called 54 Thrones, named for the 54 nations on the African continent. The deal she shook hands on that day never actually closed, but the brand kept growing anyway, and it has landed in places most Shark Tank beauty pitches never reach.
The Short Answer
Yes, 54 Thrones is still in business in 2026, and it has grown well past the shea butter jars featured on the show. The brand runs its own website and, more notably, has moved into major beauty retail.
54 Thrones products are sold at Sephora, Credo Beauty, and Nordstrom, a level of retail distribution that very few Shark Tank beauty brands ever reach. The company is not on Amazon, keeping its retail strategy focused on prestige beauty channels instead of marketplace selling.
The Shark Tank Pitch
Christina pitched in Season 13, Episode 4, bringing African shea butter and skincare products sourced from women's cooperatives across the continent, built around fair trade sourcing and representation for African beauty ingredients in the mainstream market.
She asked for 250,000 dollars for 10 percent equity, a 2.5 million dollar valuation, and found two sharks willing to team up on the offer. The pitch leaned heavily on the sourcing story behind the product, ingredients bought directly from women's cooperatives across Africa rather than through an anonymous commodity supply chain, a distinction that mattered to Christina's brand identity from the very start and one she has kept front and center as the company has grown.
The Deal That Got Done
Kevin O'Leary and guest shark Nirav Tolia agreed to 250,000 dollars for 17.5 percent equity on air. That deal never actually closed after the cameras stopped rolling, which happens more often than viewers assume with Shark Tank handshakes. Due diligence periods after an on-air handshake often surface disagreements over terms, valuation methodology, or control provisions that never get discussed on camera, and any one of those sticking points can be enough to sink a deal that looked settled in front of five investors and a studio audience.
The lack of a closed deal did not slow the company down. Christina kept building without the sharks' capital or connections, which makes 54 Thrones one of the clearer examples on this site of a company that outgrew the need for the deal it never got.
54 Thrones net worth in 2026
Public reporting on 54 Thrones puts annual revenue at roughly 1.3 million dollars as of the most recent figures tracked by Shark Tank fan sites, alongside an ELLE First Class Beauty Award and grant funding of over 300,000 dollars that Christina has secured for the business separate from any shark investment. There is no independently audited net worth figure for the company, so any broader valuation claim beyond that revenue number should be read as an estimate, not a verified fact.
The retail expansion into Sephora through its Sephora Accelerate program in 2022, followed by placement at Credo Beauty and Nordstrom, is the strongest signal of the brand's real market value. Landing three separate prestige beauty retailers without a shark's backing is a harder achievement than the deal that fell through on air. Sephora's Accelerate program, which the brand entered in 2022, is specifically built to fund and mentor beauty founders from underrepresented backgrounds through a paid initiative, and graduating into ongoing shelf space at that retailer is a meaningfully different outcome than a one-time pop-up placement.
Where Things Stand Now
Here is the recap. 54 Thrones pitched in Season 13 asking for 250,000 dollars at 10 percent, got a two-shark offer at 17.5 percent from Kevin O'Leary and Nirav Tolia, and that deal ultimately never closed.
Despite walking away without shark capital, the company diversified its product line beyond the original shea butter, won industry recognition, and built out a retail footprint at Sephora, Credo Beauty, and Nordstrom.
If you're wondering whether the brand from that episode made it, the answer is yes, and it made it further than the handshake on stage ever promised. Christina has continued building her public profile alongside the brand, taking speaking and consulting engagements that keep 54 Thrones visible in beauty industry conversations well beyond the original Shark Tank airing.
Where to buy 54 Thrones
Still selling as of January 6, 2026. Check today's price and availability.
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See the full 54 Thrones deal breakdown and term sheet →
