Where Is ProntoBev From Shark Tank Today?
There's a proper temperature to serve a bottle of wine. And it's more complicated than room temperature for red, and chilled for white. Each type of wine has an ideal temperature that allows that glass of wine to convey its full potential of aromas and flavors. For example, pinot grigio, rose, or sparkling wine are best at 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. For chardonnay and pinot noir, that range is 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. For port and cabernets, the best range is 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit. This is why many wine connoisseurs have a dedicated wine fridge set to a higher-than-normal refrigerator temperature.
If you don't have a wine fridge, a room-temperature bottle will need a few hours in the fridge to cool down to these zones — or a chilled bottle can be brought up to the Goldilocks zone in as little as 30 minutes. Without that forethought, there are physics tricks that make wine chill 50% faster. Or you can splurge on a gadget to help chill your wine as soon as possible.
ProntoBev chills Sharks as quickly as it chills wine
The ProntoBev is a large, frozen pitcher full of "Pronto Gel" that can chill a bottle of wine in about 30 seconds. You can watch inventor Alexander Simone's visit to "Shark Tank" on YouTube. They propose an investment of $100,000 for a 5% stake in his business, Pronto Concepts.
After pouring a bottle of wine into the ProntoBev, you can use the built-in thermometer to know when the wine has hit the perfect temperature, pour the wine back into the bottle, and serve. Shark Kevin O'Leary identifies as a wine drinker and shows some interest in a product he admits works. In spite of that, the rest of the Sharks can't get past a "crazy valuation" of two million dollars, or how Simone seems more like an "inventor first, businessman second."
It all comes down to a $100,000 offer for a whopping 50% interest in the company. Simone makes a plea for a better offer and reveals that there are other investors willing to fund $100,000 toward the new company. Mark Cuban hears that, and gets Simone to reveal there's another product in the works to chill martinis. That was enough to lure him back with an offer of $100,000 for 25% of the company — contingent on Simone finding the other $100,000.
Not so ProntoBev
As of now, Mark Cuban Companies' website makes no mention of ProntoBev, or Pronto Products. The Pronto Products website is still up and running. There's even a page for the ProntoAer, billed as "The World's Fastest Aerator." If you've never used one before, a wine aerator is a fast, and easy way to (essentially) decant a bottle of wine.
What Pronto Product's pages are missing, however, are links to purchase either of these products. There are a bevy of promotional videos, and even an ask for even more investors. They claim that, "We have far exceeded Mark Cuban's contingency and are briefly offering additional shares."
All of that might make sense, but considering that this episode of "Shark Tank" originally aired in 2017, that's probably not a good sign. ProntoBev's Indiegogo campaign page hasn't been updated since mid-2020. The comments on that page, however, are much more recent. The vast majority of those comments are looking for their ProntoBev, asking for a refund, or both of those options. It seems like the Sharks who were quick to opt out were the real winners.