Coffee Meets Bagel Walked Away From Mark Cuban's $30M Offer—And Everyone Had An Opinion

In the annals of “Shark Tank” history, the Kang sisters—Dawoon, Arum, and Soo—turned down Mark Cuban’s record-setting $30 million offer for their dating app Coffee Meets Bagel.

According to a Business Insider, the founders received dozens of emails calling them “crazy,” “greedy,” and “stupid” after the episode aired. 

The Kang sisters initially appeared on the show in 2015 seeking a modest $500,000 for 5% of their company, which then connected users with friends of friends and gave matches seven days to connect.

“We see this business growing as big as Match.com,” Arum Kang told the sharks, referencing Match’s trajectory toward becoming a billion-dollar company at the time.

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Cuban, who had initially declared himself “out,” reversed course with his offer just as the sisters were about to leave—$30 million for 100% of the company, the largest offer in the show’s history at that time.

“To get Mark Cuban to benchmark us at $30 million really was a huge testament and validation of all the work that was done,” Dawoon Kang told Business Insider in 2018. But "now more than ever, I’m so, so, so convinced that was the right decision.”

This wasn’t the only time the Kangs defied popular opinion. When Tinder was gaining market share, investors urged them to copy the swiping app’s formula. According to Business Insider, they refused.

“Ultimately, we decided not to,” Dawoon explained, “because that’s not why I started Coffee Meets Bagel.” While Tinder excelled at “swiping and entertainment,” Kang emphasized staying true to their original vision of “safety and quality and now intentional dating and relationships.”

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By 2018, Coffee Meets Bagel had raised nearly $20 million in funding, including a $12 million round that year. The app had evolved to offer men up to 21 potential matches daily while curating the best matches for women from among interested men.

The founders’ experience highlights the challenge of making decisions under uncertainty. “You’re doing something people have never done,” Dawoon told Business Insider. “I don’t think you ever reach 100% conviction that this is the right thing to do. There’s always a sliver of doubt.”

A decade later, their decision could remain a reference point in discussions about startup valuations, founder conviction, and gender dynamics in business.

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