Pearachute

Pearachute was a subscription and booking service that made it easy for parents to find and sign up for drop-in children's classes, from gymnastics to music to art, without committing to long memberships. The pitch was flexibility: book or cancel last minute and sample many activities. It was founded by Desiree Vargas Wrigley, an experienced startup operator who built it out of her own frustration trying to find adaptable activities for her kids.

Vargas Wrigley came into Season 9 asking for 500,000 dollars for 6 percent. She framed Pearachute as solving a real logistical headache for busy families and pointed to her track record building companies. Mark Cuban engaged and a deal was reached on air for 500,000 dollars at 15 percent, a higher equity stake than the founder first offered, reflecting the early stage of the marketplace.

The pitch stood out because the founder was a credible, repeat entrepreneur tackling a problem most parents recognize instantly. The flexible, no-long-term-commitment model fit how families actually live, and landing Cuban, who often backs marketplace and app businesses, gave the segment momentum even though the underlying business was still early.

The episode produced a clear Shark Tank bump, with sign-ups the day after airing reportedly beating the previous three months combined. Pearachute used the attention to expand into several new cities and later raised venture funding to fuel growth as it tried to scale the kids-activity marketplace beyond its home base.

Despite that progress, the deal with Cuban did not ultimately close, and the business could not reach lasting scale. Pearachute shut down in 2022, and Vargas Wrigley moved on to other work. As of 2026 the service is no longer operating, making it one of the Season 9 companies that grew for a while before winding down.