The pitch
What walked into the Den
Marc Roy of Ottawa launched Virtual Run Canada, a platform for virtual races and running challenges, and pitched it in season 16, episode 3.
He wanted $700,000 for 20 percent, a figure that placed the platform at $3.5 million.
After the show
What happened next
Wes Hall and Arlene Dickinson came in together at $700,000 for 40 percent, double the equity Roy walked in offering. The old web address now redirects permanently to an unrelated apparel brand, so the original venture no longer runs under this name.
Our read
The Hub verdict
Seven hundred thousand dollars for 20 percent puts this virtual-race platform at $3.5 million, a valuation that leaned on the pandemic-era boom in at-home fitness, which was cresting right around when it aired.
Wes Hall and Arlene Dickinson split the full $700,000 but doubled the equity to 40 percent, halving the price the founder walked in with. That is what a business with a turning demand curve costs: virtual races boomed while nobody could gather and faded the moment real ones came back. The old web address now forwards to an unrelated apparel brand with no trace of the founder or the races, so the original venture is no longer running under this name.
Worth knowing: A repurposed domain is the basis for describing the brand as no longer operating under this name.
