Product Update
Is Black Sands Entertainment Still in Business? (2026 Update)
Is Black Sands Entertainment from Shark Tank still around in 2026? The deal it made, the sharks who invested, and where to buy Black Sands Entertainment today.
Black Sands Entertainment came into Season 13 with a comic universe rooted in African history and mythology, a fan base that had already crowdfunded it into existence, and a valuation that made the sharks blink. It left with the two biggest names in the room, Mark Cuban and Kevin Hart, on its cap table. Four years later the company is still publishing, still selling direct, and working on turning its flagship series into animation.
The Short Answer
Yes, Black Sands Entertainment is in business in 2026. Its store at blacksands.com is active and sells the catalog directly: the flagship Black Sands series in hardcover editions, the Mask of the Orisha collection, the Lion's Game series, young reader titles like Cosmic Girls, and picture books, at prices running from about 7 dollars up to 150 dollars for collector editions.
The homepage banner announces an anime in production based on the award-winning comic series, and the company posts its own scoreboard: more than 200,000 units sold, over 2 million dollars raised, and a base of roughly 5,000 individual investors. This is an independent publisher that treats its readers as shareholders, literally.
The Shark Tank Pitch
Founders Manuel Godoy, Geiszel Godoy, and Teunis De Raat pitched in Season 13, Episode 10, which aired in January 2022. Their company, founded in 2016, publishes culturally diverse comics and graphic novels aimed at Black families who rarely see their history and mythology on comic shelves, and it had grown through crowdfunding rather than traditional publishing gatekeepers.
The founders wanted 500,000 dollars for 5 percent, a 10 million dollar valuation for an indie comics publisher. Publishers Weekly covered the pitch, which by itself tells you this appearance registered beyond the usual Shark Tank recap circuit.
The Deal That Got Done
Mark Cuban and guest shark Kevin Hart teamed up on the offer that landed: 500,000 dollars for 30 percent of the company, six times the equity the founders came in offering, a hard reset of the valuation, and they took it, betting that Hart's entertainment machine and Cuban's operating help were worth the dilution.
This one did not die in due diligence. In 2022, Variety reported that Hart's media company Hartbeat had signed a formal partnership with Black Sands to develop its properties, and Black Sands announced on its own site that the deal with Hart and Cuban had officially closed. For a publisher whose stated endgame was always animation and film, a working relationship with an active Hollywood production company is the exact asset the pitch was designed to catch.
A Publisher Built on Its Own Rails
What separates Black Sands from most Tank alumni is the structure of the business. Instead of chasing bookstore distribution or Amazon listings, it sells direct from its own storefront and funds growth through community investment rounds, which is where those 5,000 investors come from. Direct sales mean it keeps its margins and its customer relationships, an unusually defensible position for a small publisher.
The catalog keeps deepening rather than resetting. Recent years brought hardcover omnibus editions, a female lead collection, Madagascar-themed titles, and continued press attention, including a 2023 feature on breaking barriers for Black comic creators. The anime adaptation promoted on the homepage is the long bet, and it is the kind of bet only possible because Hart and Cuban bought in.
Black Sands Entertainment net worth in 2026
There is no audited valuation for Black Sands. The public markers are the 10 million dollars the founders asked the sharks to accept, the 1.7 million dollars the actual deal math works out to, and the company's own reported totals of 200,000 units sold and 2 million dollars raised from its investor community.
Until the animation projects ship and prove out, the fair description is a growing independent media company with lifetime sales in the low millions of dollars and an option on something much larger. Any bigger number you see attached to it is a guess.
Where Things Stand Now
Black Sands pitched at 10 million dollars, closed with Mark Cuban and Kevin Hart at 500,000 dollars for 30 percent, and then actually converted the celebrity handshake into a Hartbeat development partnership.
In 2026 the store is live, the comics keep shipping, and an anime is in production. If you searched this page because you backed one of their crowdfunding rounds or picked up a comic years ago, the company you supported is still standing and still building toward the screen.
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Where to buy Black Sands Entertainment
Still selling as of July 20, 2026. Check today's price and availability.
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See the full Black Sands Entertainment deal breakdown and term sheet →
