Everyone has burned their fingers pulling a bowl out of the microwave, and most of us have grabbed a dish towel or a wad of paper towels to avoid doing it again. Cyndi Lee decided to fix it with a flat silicone mat, and in October 2016 she took it on Shark Tank. Only one Shark made an offer — Lori Greiner, who sells to millions of people on QVC.
This post covers where the idea came from, how the pitch and the haggling went, what sales did afterward, and what Safe Grabs is plausibly worth now. Net worth is the shaky part. Safe Grabs is a private company, and the revenue figures that have been published are a few years old, so I’ve marked which numbers are dated.
Where Safe Grabs came from
In 2014, Lee wanted to stop burning her hands on things coming out of the microwave, so she designed a multi-purpose silicone mat. It works as a hot pad, trivet, place mat, jar opener, utensil rest, splatter guard and food cover — eight uses in one product. Shark Tank Blog says she first called it the Micro Easy Grab. The new name does more to explain what the thing is for, and you can see why she changed it.
She built traction before the cameras. By the time of the pitch she had sold more than $300,000 over about three years, mostly on Amazon at $12 to $15 and in small shops. She won a QVC contest in 2015 and was invited back, and in March 2016 she won $5,000 on Steve Harvey’s #PassionProject segment. Mashed also reports that she auditioned for Shark Tank twice and was turned down before she got on.
The Shark Tank pitch
Safe Grabs appeared in Season 8, Episode 5, which aired on October 21, 2016. Lee asked for $75,000 for 12% of the company, a valuation of $625,000. Four Sharks passed:
| Shark | Result | What they said |
|---|---|---|
| Lori Greiner | $75,000 for 30%, settled at 25% | Loved it |
| Mark Cuban | Out | “It’s a product, not a business” |
| Barbara Corcoran | Out | She just uses a towel |
| Kevin O’Leary | Out | Needed too much explaining and demonstrating |
| Robert Herjavec | Out | She’d done a good job, but it wasn’t for him |
The haggling with Lori went in rounds. Greiner opened at 30%, Lee countered at 17%, Greiner came down to 25%, Lee tried 20%, and Greiner held firm. Lee took it. That works out to $75,000 for 25%, which values the company at $300,000 — less than half of what she walked in asking for. With no other offers on the table and Greiner’s QVC network waiting on the other side, the trade made sense.
What happened after the episode
The mat went on sale on QVC the day after the episode aired, with Greiner presenting it. House Digest reports Greiner sold 300,000 units in less than 10 minutes. Lee and her mother reportedly packed the first 120,000 units themselves.
In the show’s update segment, sales reached $2.4 million about a year later, and Lee added pinch mitts to the line. Lee also returned to Shark Tank in Season 9 for a celebration segment featuring successful entrepreneurs from prior seasons. Greiner’s own site says Safe Grabs passed $5 million in sales within three years.
Retail came more slowly. SharkTankCompanies.com notes expansion into Bed Bath & Beyond and Home Depot by 2017, though I couldn’t confirm either is still current. Lee had said on the show that she wanted to get into Target and Walmart, but nothing I found confirms that happened. Today’s mat is sold on Safe Grabs’ own site, Amazon and Lori Greiner’s website.
The product line has stayed tight. The pinch mitts and bundle packs were discontinued by early 2023, and the company now sells the mat plus cotton kitchen towels, including seasonal themed options. During the pandemic the company matched dollar for dollar on donated medical masks.
Safe Grabs net worth and revenue
Nobody has published a valuation for Safe Grabs, and the founder hasn’t released financials. What does exist is a trail of sales figures at different points in time:
| When | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Three years before the show | About $300,000 total | Shark Tank Blog |
| 2016, at taping | $165,000 year to date | IMDb episode listing |
| About a year after the show | $2.4 million annual | Shark Tank Blog |
| Within three years of the show | Over $5 million | Mashed (citing Greiner’s site) |
| August 2022 | About $4 million annual; over $24 million lifetime | Shark Tank Blog |
| 2025 | “About $5 million in sales” (period not specified) | House Digest / Failory |
A note on reading that table: the “$5 million within three years” and the 2025 “$5 million” describe different things and shouldn’t be confused. The most specific and recent anchored figure is Shark Tank Blog’s 2022 data: roughly $4 million in annual revenue and over $24 million in lifetime sales.
You’ll also find pages online quoting Safe Grabs’ net worth at $11 million, $20 million or $30 million. Those figures trace to low-quality sites with fabricated source citations — Forbes, CNBC and Inc. have not published those numbers. Ignore them.
Valuation
No confirmed valuation exists beyond the $300,000 post-money figure set at the pitch in 2016. A product company doing $4 million a year might reasonably be valued at one to two times revenue — a $4 million to $8 million range — but that multiple is a rule of thumb, not something reported about Safe Grabs specifically. Call it an informed guess, not a number.
Lori Greiner’s return is also unpublished. She paid $75,000 for 25%, valuing the business at $300,000, and the company has done more than $24 million in lifetime sales since. How much she has earned from her stake, nobody outside has said.
What founders can take from it
Test the idea in public before you pitch it. Lee had $300,000 in sales, a QVC win and a Steve Harvey segment behind her before she stood in front of the Sharks. Mark Cuban called it a product, not a business, and she still left with a deal, because she had evidence.
Pick the channel the product suits. Kevin O’Leary’s complaint was that Safe Grabs takes too much explaining and demonstrating. That’s a real weakness on a retail shelf and an advantage on QVC, where someone is demonstrating it live. Greiner was the one Shark who could put it there — and she did, the very next day.
Give up more equity to get a partner who can actually move the product. Lee gave away 25%, more than twice the 12% she’d offered. The first QVC run sold 300,000 units in under 10 minutes.
Keep the line simple. The mitts and bundles came and went. The mat is what stayed.
FAQs
Who owns Safe Grabs today?
Cyndi Lee founded it and is still the CEO, per House Digest. Through her Shark Tank deal, Lori Greiner took a 25% stake in the company. No other ownership changes have been reported publicly.
Is Safe Grabs still in business?
Yes. As of the most recent coverage found, from 2025, the mat and kitchen towels were on sale through the company’s site and Amazon with no sign of trouble. Check safegrabs.com for current stock.
Where can you buy Safe Grabs?
Safe Grabs’ own website, Amazon and Lori Greiner’s website. Older write-ups also mention Bed Bath & Beyond and Home Depot, but I couldn’t confirm either is currently stocking it.
How much did Lori Greiner invest in Safe Grabs?
$75,000 for 25% of the company, after opening negotiations at 30% and holding firm when Lee pushed for 20%.
Did Safe Grabs get a deal on Shark Tank?
Yes. Four Sharks passed, and Greiner offered $75,000 for 30% before settling at 25%.
How much is Safe Grabs worth?
No confirmed figure exists. The best sourced data point is roughly $4 million in annual revenue and over $24 million in lifetime sales as of 2022, per Shark Tank Blog. A rough valuation range based on that revenue would be $4 million to $8 million, but that is an estimate, not a reported number.