Product Update
Is Spikeball Still in Business? (2026 Update)
Is Spikeball from Shark Tank still around in 2026? The deal it made, the sharks who invested, and where to buy Spikeball today.
Spikeball is the rare Shark Tank company that lost its shark and won anyway. Chris Ruder pitched his yellow-netted roundnet game in Season 6, shook hands with Daymond John on national television, watched that agreement die before the episode even aired, and then built the thing into a legitimate sport with its own tournament circuit and a brand that now calls itself the OG of an entire category. If you came here wondering whether Spikeball survived, the answer is bigger than survival.
The Short Answer
Yes, Spikeball is alive and thriving in 2026. The company still runs its own store at spikeball.com, where it sells a full ladder of roundnet sets, from the entry-level Rookie set through the Weekender and Pro kits up to the newer TITAN line, plus balls, replacement rims, nets, legs, and a full apparel range.
The brand leans hard on its history, billing itself as trusted since 2008, and it has pushed well past equipment. There is a dedicated tournaments arm, community programs for PE teachers and college clubs, and even a licensed video game called Spikeball Smash. This is not a product hanging on. It is a category owner.
The Shark Tank Pitch
Ruder brought Spikeball into the Tank in Season 6, Episode 29, which aired in May 2015. The company was based in Chicago, Illinois, and by that point it was already a real business rather than a prototype with a dream. Roundnet, the sport played around that circular trampoline-style net, had a growing base of college kids and beach players.
The ask was 500,000 dollars for a 10 percent stake, pricing the company at 5 million dollars. Ruder had spent years running Spikeball as a side project while holding down a day job, and the pitch positioned the game not as a toy but as the foundation of a new team sport.
The Deal That Got Done
Daymond John bit, offering the full 500,000 dollars for 20 percent, double the equity Ruder had put on the table. Ruder accepted. On paper it looked like a natural pairing, a branding heavyweight joining a product that was becoming a lifestyle.
The handshake did not hold. Ruder later told Forbes that the agreement was dead before the episode ever aired. The breaking point, as he described it, was a licensing direction that would have put Spider-Man branding on Spikeball sets. Ruder feared a superhero tie-in would cement the product as a toy in shoppers' minds, when his whole strategy was to build a sport. He walked away from the money to protect the positioning.
The Sport Grew Anyway
That positioning bet paid off. Roundnet spread through colleges, beaches, and parks, and Spikeball put real resources behind the competitive scene, running sanctioned events and supporting local roundnet organizations around the country. The company's name became the default word for the sport itself, the way Kleenex became tissue.
The product line matured along with the player base. Casual buyers get the Rookie or Weekender sets, serious players graduated to the Pro kit, and the TITAN set now serves the hardest hitters. Spikeball also sells the small spare parts that keep old sets alive, which tells you it thinks about its players in years, not transactions.
Spikeball net worth in 2026
Spikeball is private and does not publish audited financials, so there is no confirmed net worth figure to report. What exists are estimates from Shark Tank tracking sites, which commonly place revenue above 15 million dollars a year. Treat that as an informed guess rather than a verified number.
The honest way to size the business is by what you can observe. It sells direct through a busy storefront, supports a national tournament scene, licenses a video game, and has held the center of its category for well over a decade. Whatever the precise figure, this is comfortably one of the stronger outcomes in Shark Tank history, and it happened without a single shark dollar.
Where Things Stand Now
Spikeball pitched in Season 6 out of Chicago, wanted 500,000 dollars for a tenth of the business, agreed on air to give Daymond John 20 percent, and then let the arrangement collapse over a Spider-Man licensing disagreement before broadcast.
In 2026 the company is active, independent, and still the reference brand for roundnet. You can buy sets, parts, and apparel straight from spikeball.com. If you were worried the game you played at a barbecue ten years ago had quietly disappeared, it did the opposite. It turned into a sport.
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Where to buy Spikeball
Still selling as of July 13, 2026. Check today's price and availability.
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See the full Spikeball deal breakdown and term sheet →
