Product Update
Is Spikeball Still in Business? (2026 Update)
Is Spikeball from Shark Tank still around in 2026? The deal it made, the sharks who invested, and where to buy Spikeball today.
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Plenty of Shark Tank deals fall apart the moment the cameras stop rolling. A handshake on national television is not a binding contract, and the due diligence that follows the broadcast quietly kills a meaningful share of the agreements viewers watch close. So the reasonable question for any company that aired years ago is simple: did it survive the spotlight? For Codiby Pillar Learning, the maker of an educational robot aimed at young kids, the answer is yes. The company is still operating and still selling its product today.
The Pitch and the Deal
Pillar Learning brought its educational robot for kids to the Tank in Season 12, Episode 8. The founders asked for $500,000 in exchange for 10 percent of the company, a valuation that pegged the business at roughly $5 million. That is an aggressive number for an early-stage hardware product in the crowded kids and education category, where hardware margins are thin and customer acquisition is expensive.
Robert Herjavec was the shark who bit. The deal that closed on air was $500,000 for 25 percent of the company. Read the terms against the ask and the story is clear. The founders walked in wanting to give up a tenth of their business and left having parted with a quarter of it. Herjavec got the same dollar figure the team requested but two and a half times the equity, which effectively revalued the company at around $2 million. That kind of correction is routine in the Tank. Sharks rarely accept a founder's valuation at face value, and a single investor taking a larger stake often signals real conviction rather than a quick spray-and-pray bet.
Why a Robert Herjavec Deal Matters Here
Herjavec built his fortune in cybersecurity and technology services, so a connected-device aimed at children sits closer to his comfort zone than, say, a food or apparel brand would. For a hardware-driven education product, that alignment counts. Kids tech lives or dies on the unglamorous details: supply chains, firmware, safety compliance, and the ability to keep manufacturing costs under control as you scale. An investor who understands hardware and software together is more useful to this kind of company than one who only knows retail distribution.
It is worth remembering, too, that the on-air deal and the deal that actually funds are not always the same thing. Post-show due diligence can renegotiate or scrap terms entirely. What we can verify is the outcome that matters most to a buyer today: the company is still in business and the product is still for sale. Whether the Herjavec money ultimately landed exactly as announced is a separate question from whether the venture endured, and on the endurance question the record is settled.
Where It Stands Today
Codiby Pillar Learning is still selling its educational robot, and it does so through its own website rather than leaning on a third-party marketplace. Notably, the product is not listed on Amazon. That detail tells you something about how the company has chosen to operate. Selling direct to consumers means owning the customer relationship, the pricing, and the data, instead of handing a cut and the shopper's information to a marketplace. For a brand built around a single connected product, that control can be the difference between a sustainable margin and a race to the bottom on a crowded listings page.
The tradeoff is reach. Amazon is where an enormous share of product searches begin, and staying off it means the company has to drive its own traffic and earn its own visibility. That it has continued to do so for years after the episode aired suggests the direct model is working well enough to keep the lights on. Surviving in the kids and education space is not trivial. Parents are discerning buyers, screen-time concerns weigh on every purchase, and competing toys and apps are endless. A product that keeps selling in that environment has cleared a real bar.
The Verdict
So, is Codiby Pillar Learning still in business? Yes. The company that pitched in Season 12 secured a deal with Robert Herjavec, kept building, and continues to sell its educational robot directly to families through its own website today. The valuation got trimmed on air, the road through a competitive category was never going to be easy, and the decision to skip Amazon put the burden of growth squarely on the brand's own shoulders. None of that stopped it. Years after most viewers forgot which episode it appeared in, the product is still on the market and the lights are still on, which is more than a lot of Tank alumni can claim.
Where to buy Spikeball
Still selling as of July 13, 2026. Check today's price and availability.
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See the full Spikeball deal breakdown and term sheet →
