Have you ever wondered how a solar cooker could be a million-dollar business? Well, as a matter of fact, it is! The contribution of companies like One Earth Designs and Shark Tank are doing just that. One earth design being a charity organization has the aim to bring social and environmental innovations through its self-motivated multidisciplinary team.
This team is an amalgamation of scientific engineers, practical thinkers, and creative designers. While Shark Tank is a reality show based on the aim to hunt down to invest in the best businesses America has to offer.
The Solsource company was founded by the Co-Founders of One Earth Designs in January 2008, Caitlin Powers. It was advised by Scott Frank, while actually, Solsource is a collaboration between Powers and Frank.
Solsource at a glance:
- A solar cooker with 90%efficiency, which uses no charcoal or gas to work.
- Founder: Caitlin Powers and Scott Frank
- Asked For $500,000 for 3% at a $16.66 million valuation on Shark Tank.
- Received $500,000 for 4% from Mark Cuban.
- Out of business
Index:
Founder Story:
It all began in the Himalayas working on environmental issues that affected the pollution levels by ten times because of burning fuels in the city of Qinghai.
This was the environmental threat that the team wanted to undertake. The million-dollar idea of creating a world-class selling product, a grill that works on solar power cooks at extremely high temperatures and allows smoke-free cooking.
“The weekend barbeque has to have the smoky taste.” Was the opening comment by Lori Greiner was enough to discourage the shark tank business investors to buy this idea?
The attempts didn’t stop there, the co-founder of One Earth Designs set out on an adventure to discover the true facts of the case of pollution that affected the air of Qinghai and found out that it was due to the high burning of biofuels and cow dung, which caused this.
She took up the initiative to bring about a change, by helping them find renewable alternatives, such as solar power.
The marvel was taken care of by another engineering teacher who had initiated an engineering course in the Qinghai university by the name of Scott Frank who first started his engineering program in Beijing with the hope that had to migrate it to Qinghai to make it a reality.
The million-dollar idea was accredited and awarded many awards like the:
- Yunus challenge award by MIT in 2009.
- The UN-backed SEED award in 2010 (Product was lauded for its environmental benefits in the Himalayas and the reduction of things like deforestation and challenges of toxic air in homes).
Finally, the Solsource company crossed paths with entrepreneurship.
According to an article by Harvard the team decided on a novel route to funding the production of their solar cooker. They aimed at 43,000 and surpassed it to 100,000.
What happened to Solsource After Shark Tank?
Now the idea of Caitlin Powers took shape and she decided to make an investment of $500,000 in exchange for 3 to 5 % of the equity in Solsource.
Solsource is a solar cooker with 90% efficiency, which uses no charcoal or gas to work. The Co-founder of One Earth Designs Caitlin powers went to the shark tank show for a $500,000 investment for which mark Cuban asked “Do you think you could put the fear of God in Elon Musk and put them out of business?” to which she replied immediately “Yes, I think we have the potential to do that.”
This resulted in a profitable deal with Mark Cuban with an investment of 500,000 for 4% and a board seat.
The adverse effect on the millionaire of Tesla – Elon musk was that he stepped down as the Chairman of Tesla and settled down with SEC. He shut down a major part of the Solar City sales network and cut ties with Home Depot generating half of his sales.
Finally, on September 28 the stock of Tesla plummeted by 14 %and closed at $ 263.24.
As of now, the company Solsource has terminated its production as of 1st January 2020 as written in a letter to the customers, remaining stock is available for the purchase of solar cookers from SIC for America and Asia and from Solar brothers in Europe.
It is also witnessed that the organization will continue to provide global social impact through its humanitarian projects and continue evolving solar thermal technologies.
What is the net worth of Solsource?
The heart of any business is usually the financials so let’s dig deeper into the revenue model of One Earth Designs- the parent company of Solsource as per the annual report.
There is a decline in valuation from $11.8 to $8.2m. One Earth Designs is a company that develops product-based solar power technologies to enable sustainable livelihood.
Investors in Solsource:
- The investor’s name is VilCap investments.
- This investor VilCap investment desires to find, train, and fund entrepreneurs.
- Their follow-on investments in peer-selected companies in energy, financial services, and health around the globe.
The different investments made by One Earth Designs
| Name of investment | Date | Amount |
| Grant | 23rd Sep 2010 | $644 |
| Grant | $1M | |
| Angel (Individual ) | 13th Feb 2018 | Not Disclosed |
| Early-stage VC | 03rd Nov 2016 | Not Disclosed |
Competitor analysis of Solsource:
| Analysis | One Earth Designs | Upsolar Group | RECOM | Systovi | Nanosola |
| Founded | 2013 | 2006 | 2007 | N/A | N/A |
| Type | Private | Private | Private | Private | Private |
| Tags | Manufacturing and industrial | Manufacturing and industrial | Manufacturing and industrial | Manufacturing and industrial | Manufacturing and industrial |
| Location | Trondhiem NO | CN | Dusseldorf | Carquefou | Hunenburg |
| Employee | 8 | 8 | 76 | 43 | 77 |
| Annual Revenue | 1-10 Million | $494,668 | 100 million | – | $3,100,000 |
Is Solsource still in business?
Solsource was profitable as compared to Nanosolar and Upsolar but RECOM surpasses them all in annual revenue but has been declining.
They declared they are closing production from 1st Jan 2020. They provided a six-month window to buy their remaining stock and after-sales services till June 2020. As of today, this company is Out of Business.
Do Share Your Thoughts:
Do tell us all your thoughts in the comments section below, we look forward to reading all the comments in the section below.
Also, check the useful Startup Resources and Tools below, and do join our newsletter 📰 for free for more interesting Business Case Studies 💰, Startup knowledge 🚀, and Startup founders podcast 🎙️ delivered to your inbox every Sunday morning.
Do follow us:
Related Articles:
- Cereal Killerz Kitchen-Cereal Bar: What Happened After Shark Tank?
- Elephant Chat: What Happened After Shark Tank?
- Minus Cal: What Happened After Shark Tank?
- Toygaroo: What Happened After Shark Tank?
- Beer Blizzard: What Happened After Shark Tank?
- Grill Charms: What Happened After Shark Tank?
FAQs:
What is Solsource?
Solsource is a solar cooker with 90% efficiency, which uses no charcoal or gas to work. The Co-founder of One Earth Designs Caitlin powers went to the shark tank show for a $500,000 investment.
Who founded Solsource?
The Solsource company was founded by the Co-Founders of One Earth Designs in January 2008, Caitlin Powers.
Nice work
best and crisp analysis.
Thanks for putting your effort in publishing this article.
Thanks for the pleasant read!
Your website is excellent. Thank you greatly for delivering a lot of very helpful information and facts.