BFree Cup

BFree Cup reached season 20, episode 16, with Leisa Hertz and Asaf Shargall pitching a reusable menstrual cup developed alongside university researchers.

Led with an ask of $500,000 in trade for 10 percent, which valued the whole thing at about $5,000,000.

According to a McMaster University engineering writeup tied to the company, two Dragons each put in $250,000 for a 25 percent share and the team accepted both. That kept the total at the half-million they asked for while pushing the equity surrendered from 10 percent to a combined 50 percent, a dramatic swing for founders to accept.

The product is selling now: our July 2026 check found cups at $45 each, a $70 combo, free shipping across Canada, and some sizes sold out with a restock signup, which reads as demand rather than a stalled shop.

This is the rare pitch where the cash matched the ask but the equity story flipped entirely. Hertz and Shargall opened wanting half a million against a tenth of the business, and per a McMaster engineering writeup they accepted two Dragons at a quarter of the company each. The money held; the ownership surrendered ballooned from a tenth to a combined half.

Taking on two partners for half the business is a serious concession, and it usually signals founders who wanted the reach of two Dragons badly enough to reprice their own valuation down fivefold to get it. The product sells in 2026, with cups around forty-five dollars and some sizes gone, which reads as demand, though that double-Dragon structure comes from a university page rather than a network ledger.