Some of the best ideas come from lived frustration. Shark Tank Season 17 has seen its share of clever pitches, but Bloom stood out for a reason most people in the room could immediately relate to. Phone addiction is not a new problem. A physical solution to it is.
Danny Chmaytelli and Giancarlo Novelli, two former students who spent years losing hours to their own screens, built Bloom after realizing that built-in screen time tools were too easy to ignore. The Bloom Shark Tank pitch on Season 17 Episode 16 showed exactly why willpower alone is rarely enough — and why a simple card might be the answer.
What Bloom Is and How the Keycard Works
Bloom is a stainless steel keycard that physically locks distracting apps on your phone. The apps stay locked until you tap the card against your device to unlock them. The entire point is separation. Leave the card at home, and your social media stays off. No override button. No notification tempting you to check anyway.
According to ABC, Bloom costs approximately $2.77 to manufacture and retails at $39. The founders entered the Tank asking for $75,000 in exchange for 5% equity. In just six months of operation, the company had already generated $220,000 in sales and $60,000 in profit. Those numbers, combined with margins that impressed even the skeptical Sharks, made Bloom hard to dismiss.
Danny and Giancarlo built the pitch around their own story. As students, they had tried every app-based solution available. None of them worked consistently because the phone was always right there. Making focus a physical habit, they argued, is what separates Bloom from everything else on the market.
How the Bloom Shark Tank Pitch Landed With the Panel
The Sharks engaged quickly but also pushed hard. Several raised concerns about whether major phone manufacturers could simply build similar features directly into their operating systems, potentially making Bloom redundant overnight. It is a fair challenge for any hardware-based digital wellness product.
Kevin O’Leary came in with an aggressive offer. Daniel Lubetzky focused on the younger demographic, seeing strong potential in a generation that has grown up with screen addiction as a baseline experience. According to Sharktank Companies, Bloom has since landed retail placement at Best Buy and introduced a student discount for anyone with a valid .edu email address.
By February 2026, the company had grown to a community of over 50,000 customers. A 30-day money-back guarantee and ongoing promotional offers suggest the founders are actively working to lower the barrier for first-time buyers.
The Bloom Shark Tank moment captured something real — the tension between knowing you use your phone too much and actually doing something about it. For a generation that has watched every Season 17 pitch try to solve a problem, this one felt personal.
Shark Tank Season 17 airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC, with episodes streaming the next day on Hulu.
