Numilk: Here's What Happened After Shark Tank

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There's a better way to indulge in plant-based milk, and it's fresher and far more convenient. Called Numilk, it's a self-serve alternative to pre-packaged, store-bought options. It uses a custom, kiosk-type machine and flavored pouches to process the drink into a bottle or glass in real-time before your eyes. With just the press of a button, you can have naturally-processed, fresh, and nutritious vegan milk in under a minute. And it lasts for a week in the fridge.

The innovative idea was nothing more than a pipe dream drawn out on napkins back in 2017; however, in just a year, the three founders, Joe Savino, Ari Tolwin, and Lennie Friedman had their nifty kiosk developed and installed in their first grocery store, a New Jersey-based Whole Foods.

At the time, the vegan milk market was booming and expected to reach $16.3 billion in 2017 (per Innova Market Insights); it's now projected to hit $123.1 billion by 2030, according to SkyQuest, providing a great rationale for Numilk to enter the market. Especially since the trio found a way to improve upon the ultra-processed vegan milks dominating store shelves, which are often laden with artificial preservatives, gums, and fillers. Instead, Numilk features simple, whole food ingredients, like organic almonds for its almond milk and a blend of organic cacao, vanilla bean, and maple for its dairy-free chocolate milk.

With the grocery store partnerships established, the Numilk founders set out to find funding for a home countertop version and took their pitch to "Shark Tank."

Joe Savino and Ari Tolwin represented Numilk when the company appeared on Season 12, Episode 18 of "Shark Tank" in 2021. The five judges on the panel—Mark Cuban, Daymond John, Barbara Corcoran, Kevin O'Leary, and Lori Greiner—were initially stunned by their ask: $1 million for a 5% stake in the company. "You got our attention," said Corcoran. But, soon after she took a sip of the drink, the shark noted that Numilk tasted nothing like store brands of plant-based milks.

All of the panelists liked the taste of Numilk, but they wanted more information on the high-tech machine that churns out the refillable bottles. O'Leary was first to chime in with his opinion, believing the business model's high cost (including building and maintaining the kiosks) was too much of a drain on the company's profit lines. This was evidenced, he said, by Numilk losing $7 million of the $12 million it had raised thus far due to high research and development costs. But, the entrepreneurs tried to sway the sharks, revealing a prototype of a home countertop version (like a Keurig) that they believed was more efficient.

Corcoran bowed out first, followed by John and Greiner. But seeing a fundamental demand for the product, O'Leary changed his tune and was in with an offer of a $1 million loan (to be paid back in three years with a 9.5% interest rate) in exchange for 5% equity in Numilk. Cuban, who has an extensive investment portfolio of plant-based brands, countered with an offer of $2 million, including $1 million in exchange for 7% equity and $1 million as a loan with 3% interest as well as 3% in company stock. The founders ultimately opted for the latter deal.

Numilk faced considerable setbacks in 2020, when the company's "Shark Tank" episode was filmed, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. As they told the sharks, that resulted in delayed launches with Kroger, Gelson's Markets, and other retailers. Even so, the brand has kept defying all odds. The day before their "Shark Tank" episode aired in March 2021, the founders launched a Kickstarter campaign for the Numilk Home machine, the smaller, countertop milk maker, and garnered $222,353 over a 45-day fundraising period. 

Numilk certainly had a whirlwind of a year after swimming with the sharks. They expanded, adding organic cashew milk to the line as well as several new flavors: Goldenmilk, which features coconut, maple, turmeric, and ginger; and Moonmilk, which contains maple, dragon fruit, chamomile, and ashwagandha. 

Around that same time, Numilk also launched an enticing new oat milk-based flavor, Matcha Latte, as well as specialty options of the month like Black Sesame and Vegan Egg Nog. Not only that, but the startup expanded into even more retailers, with its larger-sized Numilk Pro commercial machines added to a slew of coffee shops across the country.

Fast forward to 2025, and business is still booming for NuMilk. Over 500 cafes and coffee shops employ its commercial model along with roughly 10% of Lifetime Fitness gyms as of March 2025. Households across the country use its countertop model, but Canada may soon be joining in now that Numilk offers shipping to them.

High-end boutique hotels, brunch spots, restaurants, and even universities haven't missed out on Numilk's value either. Baristas are certainly raving about the sustainable vegan milk with cafes across the country that not only use the milk maker, but many have partnered with the company in giveaways or to sell their own blends of non-dairy milk. And with an exclusive manufacturing and selling agreement with Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc., Numilk's ability to reach more customers by selling more units is only expanding.

Between commercial availability and at-home accessibility, Numilk recovered from its COVID setback to become a major player in the world of home kitchen appliances. As an eco-friendly, self-service alternative to an expensive or even scarce product, depending on where you live, even Numilk's founders couldn't have guessed how successful their million-dollar Shark Tank pitch would end up being.

Since its meteoric rise in popularity, Numilk has promised tons of product expansions. True to form, the company delivered and now offers 32-ounce oat latte packs in matcha and vanilla. While Numilk is no doubt researching and developing more delicious flavors, it seems that it's capitalizing on its Hamilton Beach agreement and focusing on distributing more of its machines, both commercial and countertop.

In an interview at the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers, founder Ari Tolwin noted several possible areas of expansion (via YouTube). Most notably, Tolwin discussed the possibility of expanding into primary schools, where demand for milk is high. Numilk already offers its products at Arizona State University coffee bars, so its expansion into other levels of education makes sense.

Customers can order the Numilk home machine from its website or Amazon shopping page. However, the commercial model is only available at the brand's website for $1,399, but it comes with discount incentives for partnerships. With a win-win deal that offers folks the ability to save money without sacrificing the quality of their plant-based milk, Numilk is sure to develop plenty of exciting new additions to its product line as it becomes more and more available.