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The tech startup behind the Flashback ONE35, a “non-disposable digital disposable camera,” pitched its affordable camera to the business gurus on the Australian version of Shark Tank this week and received a huge investment of 500,000 AUD, about $330,000.
Since launching in May 2023 on Kickstarter, where Flashback earned $800,000 in backing, the company has since earned about $3 million in total revenue as of this month. The company projects an additional $15 million in revenue over the next 12 months, a forecast driven primarily by holiday gift ambitions.
“This is the biggest gifting product I have seen,” says Shark Tank panelist and founder of Oodie, David Fogarty. “Guys, you are the real deal… you are going to be millionaires from this.”
Flashback founders, university students Kelric Mullen and Mackenzie Salisbury, were hoping to receive an offer of 500,000 AUD in exchange for seven percent equity. The Shark who invested in Flashback, Maxine Horne, offered 500,000 AUD for 20 percent, but Mullen and Salisbury negotiated Horne down to 10 percent equity. Horne is the founder and former CEO of retail company Vita Group.
“I do have a soft spot for you, so I am going to give you an offer,” Horne said during the episode. “What a perfect thing to have a retro shark invest in your retro product.”
“I am very excited to be working with Maxine. Especially her history with the University of Queensland who we have worked with in the past, she just seems like the perfect person for us to work with,” explains Mullen.
“Mack and I have always been driven from the get-go. We have both dived headfirst into this. The big difference now is we’ve got some experience on our side — we’ve got some mentorship on our side,” Mullen continues.
Salisbury adds, “I think that if I was working with anyone else, I don’t think we would have made it this far.”
Flashback ONE35
In the 18 months since debuting the ONE35, Mullen and Salisbury have experienced a whirlwind of success. The camera has clearly struck a chord with people, especially those who have nostalgia for the era of disposable cameras.
A return to this familiar form factor has been observed across the camera space, both analog and digital. In the ONE35’s case, it promises “the soul of a film camera in a digital era.” To that end, it features a retro-inspired design and user experience, including a “film” winder and a 27-shot limit. The camera also includes film-inspired digital filters, a built-in flash, and USB-C charging.
The filmic experience goes beyond the ONE35’s design and controls. The camera also has a 24-hour “development” time, meaning users must wait for the images they captured to be ready to download to their phone. It’s unique in the digital camera space, but in service of the old-school experience of waiting for photos.
Ultimately, the camera, which sports a small 18-megapixel sensor and tiny lens, is not aiming to surpass a typical digital camera in terms of image quality, or even best a modern smartphone’s quality, for that matter, but to offer people a different type of photography experience without incurring the materials costs of actual analog photography.
The Flashback ONE35 is available now for $99 in four colors: black and orange, white and red, white and teal, and black and yellow.