What Happened To Autio From Shark Tank Season 14

Road tripping is an activity many enjoy, while others might prefer the actual destination over the journey. This could be because some road trips are long and tedious. Enter the Autio application, proudly presented on the reality television show "Shark Tank." Created in 2017 and officially launched in 2020, Autio was founded by Woody Sears, Bill Werlin, and the legendary actor Kevin Costner. It's a smartphone application that can completely change how you experience road trips.

Autio works by placing several pins along a road trip containing stories and information about your surroundings. Instead of wondering about a particular landmark's history, travelers are met with fantastic information and facts. In addition, these stories can be narrated by famous actors and personalities, which certainly puts some pizzazz on the production values of Autio's collection of tales and tidbits. So how did Autio's presentation go on "Shark Tank," and is the company still around?

In a season 14 episode from March 2023, Autio was presented by co-founder Woody Sears. Sears explained he loves traveling, and while he and his family are trekking, they are always asking many questions, like how a town came to be. This gave rise to the idea that would eventually become Autio. Sears asked for $1 million from the investors for a 5% equity in the company, which immediately caused Sharks Mark Cuban and Kevin O'Leary to gasp in shock.

Sears said the app uses location data to populate a list of stories and facts. All a user needs to do is hit play, and the app will take care of the rest, drawing from over 9,000 Autio entries. Kevin Costner, John Lithgow, and Phil Jackson narrated some of these stories, which earned approving nods from the "Shark Tank" investors. At this point, the Sharks begin to question Sears, asking how Autio is priced, and Sears answered by saying that the service comes with five free stories, and if you like what you hear, an unlimited yearly subscription costs $36. 

Sears also noted that the previous year had sales worth $210,000, and this year had already generated $700,000, highlighting explosive growth. However, for the asking price of $1 million, all of the Sharks except O'Leary bowed out. O'Leary asked for 15% equity. After some back-and-forth negotiating, O'Leary refused to budge at less than 10%, which caused Sears to ultimately decline.

So, how did Autio fare in the immediate aftermath of its "Shark Tank" appearance? Considering Woody Sears' request for $1 million at 5% equity, that puts the valuation of Autio somewhere to the tune of $20 million. During the "Shark Tank" appearance, Sears reported that the service had around 15,000 users, but it seems as if the "Shark Tank" effect came in full force for Autio, and the company saw a huge uptick in downloads and subscribers almost instantaneously. These included app downloads increasing by 464%, new subscribers by 105%, and website traffic seeing a surge of 1,600%.

By the end of March, Autio claimed it had 230,000 registered users, which is a tremendous expansion for the service in an incredibly short amount of time. Despite turning down any investments from the Sharks, it seems as if Autio was still able to capitalize by popping up on the hit show, and it seems to have generated a huge amount of interest in the subscription service.

With the aforementioned wave of popularity following the "Shark Tank" appearance, it should be no surprise that Autio is still very much in business. By April 2023, it was reported that Autio had millions of users, which probably makes some of the investors on "Shark Tank" a little unhappy with themselves for not being more receptive towards the storytelling smartphone application. Users of Autio have also given the application tremendous accolades, with the service currently standing at a 4.8 rating out of five with over 3,500 submissions on the Apple Store.

Besides users, several publications like Forbes and the New York Times have also done articles singing the praises of Autio, so it seems as if the company has been well received and is not in any immediate danger of shutting down. It is also important to realize that Autio is yet another service or product that was co-created by a famous celebrity, and Kevin Costner's involvement more than likely has helped the business as well. Over on Autio's website, Costner writes, "Autio could be the biggest thing I've ever been a part of." 

The rapid ascent of Autio certainly provides the company plenty of opportunities for an expansion of the service in many different forms, whether it be enriching the current lineup of stories and facts or becoming available in more areas than the United States. As of July 2023, Autio is only available on iPhones, though the company is beta-testing an Android version. 

Beyond putting Autio on Android smartphones, it seems as if the company also wants to move into international markets. Speaking with TechCrunch, co-founder Woody Sears laid out the plans for Autio's future and said, "We'll be launching enterprise integrations to surface our content in new and interesting ways. We also have more community-focused features to encourage story sharing and discovery rolling out over the course of this year. Additionally, we're piloting new markets for international expansion." 

So, for those of you out there looking to elevate your road trips and travels with interesting information, Autio is a fantastic way to augment your exploration.