The pitch
What walked into the Den
Elliot Kimelman, a Winnipeg factory worker, brought C-Spray, a wearable insect-deterrent spray, to season 14, episode 8.
He opened with $100,000 for 10 percent, pricing his young product at $1 million.
After the show
What happened next
He left with a deal that cost more than the sticker. Michele Romanow gave the full $100,000 but for 40 percent of the company, and she layered a 10 percent royalty on all future retail sales on top, per CBC's own reporting at the time. Funding came with both a bigger stake and an ongoing cut.
Where the product stands now we could not confirm. Both web addresses tied to C-Spray were unreachable at our July 2026 check, and with no second signal to lean on we leave the status unverified rather than assume the worst.
Our read
The Hub verdict
The royalty is what makes this deal expensive. Elliot Kimelman got his full $100,000, but Michele Romanow took 40 percent instead of the 10 he offered and attached a 10 percent cut of all future retail sales on top. A royalty layered over a large equity stake is about as founder-heavy as Den terms get, and it is the real cost of the raise.
The status is a blank we will not fill in: both web addresses tied to the product were unreachable when we checked, and with no second signal we mark it unverified rather than assume the spray is gone.
Full raise, 40 percent, plus a royalty on every sale: a heavy price to close.
Worth knowing: The deal terms are from contemporary reporting; the company's present state is unconfirmed, so we make no claim about whether the spray still sells.
