A new season of Shark Tank Australia aired last night, and first into the tank was Aussie skincare brand Boring Without You – a company that dubs themselves as “beauty without the bullsh*t” and caters to the oft-forgotten ‘combination skin’.
In a dramatic TV negotiation, Boring Without You Founder Davey Rooney fielded offers from four of the five sharks, including Jane Lu, the CEO of online fashion boutique Showpo; Shark Tank US regular, Robert Herjavec; and Oodie owner Davie Fogarty.
With the skincare company in hot demand, the Sharks shot up the asking price, valuing the business 38 per cent higher than what Rooney originally requested. It resulted in Oodie owner, Fogarty, landing the deal and securing a 20% per cent stake in the fast-growing, colourful skincare brand.
Since its 2022 launch, Boring Without You has sold out five times.
Founder, Mr Rooney, says: “This is just the beginning. I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. I didn’t even have a business plan, so I got Chat GPT to help me write one for the show, and now I’ve got a deal with one of the biggest entrepreneurs in Australia. There are big things to come, and this partnership will help us reach even more people”.
Mr Rooney, who also studied cosmetic science, devised the idea while experiencing horrendous workplace bullying. As an escape, he would go for socially distanced walks and think about problems in society and how he could solve them.
Following one of these walks, he went to Chemist Warehouse, where he saw nothing dedicated to people with this all-too-common skin type. That week Rooney quit his job and started working on Boring Without You.
“When you have combo skin, it’s normal for one part of your face to be oily and another part dry. It makes applying make-up, treating blemishes, and finding the right skincare very difficult. We want to make it easy for these people and offer evidence-based cosmetics with concentrated ingredients that genuinely make a difference to your skin.”
The hero product, For Face Sake, is a multi-mask featuring two unique formulas in one jar. The whipped butter controls oil and clears blackheads on the forehead and nose, while the soothing jelly calms hormonal blemishes and deeply hydrates the cheeks and jaw.
The brand has taken over social media with millions of views, a collective following of over 250,000, and is loved by celebrities like Anna Paul and Flex Mami.
