Shark Tank TV Show: An Effective Channel of Funding and Commercializing Innovation

This study examines Shark Tank TV show as a new and effective channel for innovative firms to acquire funding and supports from venture capital (VC) funds to commercialize their innovation. We utilize data from three seasons of Shark Tank Vietnam, where innovation is mainly sponsored by Government funding without much support to commercialize the final research outputs. We find that entrepreneurs having a product innovation have a higher chance of getting funding, receive higher funding amount, and higher YouTube popularity. In addition, sharks (VC investors) in the show provide a substantial amount of funding, which is highly comparable to that of the largest funding program for innovation by the Vietnamese Government. More importantly, the show is superior in providing other support to commercialize the firms’ products.