Did The Amber Phone Charging Station Survive After Shark Tank? Here's What Happened After Season 6

In 2014, season six of "Shark Tank" showcased an entrepreneur who wanted to make charging your smartphone on the go more convenient for the customer, and more lucrative for businesses. The product was called Amber, and it was a portable phone charging station with a box-like shape for phone placement. Unfortunately, the panel of potential investors on the panel didn't buy into the idea, and no deal was offered.

The idea behind Amber was for it to be sold to businesses, such as bars, event venues, and restaurants. Customers could then put their phone inside the box, which would be fingerprint-secured and have it charge. It is worth noting that there are a lot of security reasons why it's never a good idea to use public USB charging ports. The idea was that businesses could charge customers to use Amber, and perhaps it would also bring in people who liked the convenience of having a place to hang out and charge their phone at the same time.

Not all ideas on Shark Tank end up working out. While some secure a deal and go on to a successful business, others don't get any interest. While that doesn't mean the business won't take off on its own, in the case of Amber, no solid investment ended up meaning no future business.

Amber was represented on the show by entrepreneur Bill Shuey. Shuey was looking for a "Shark Tank" investment to get the business running more efficiently, asking for $250,000 for a 25% stake in the company. His idea was to sell Amber to businesses for about $200, and through Amber, these businesses could collect customer data from those who used the portable charging station. The collecting and selling of personal data to advertisers isn't always popular among customers, but there are ways to combat this, even with large companies like AT&T.

The panel of potential investors had a handful of concerns. There was worry about the security of these devices, even with them being locked by fingerprint. There were also protests that other products serve a similar purpose for less money or even for free, so there is no viable market for the product. No deal was offered, and Shuey left the show unhappy with the situation.

Shuey tried to find investment elsewhere for Amber after "Shark Tank." He tweaked the pricing strategy and attracted some interest from manufacturers in the year following the show. However, nothing stuck, and Amber went out of business by 2015.

As of the this writing, the Amber phone charging station has no active website. It still has an Instagram page up with a scant 20 posts, the last being from 2014, which was the same year as the "Shark Tank" episode. It also has an account on X, though its last post was also in 2014.

There was discussion on a Reddit forum about the product as recently as 2025, with users debating if it was a solid business idea or not. Comments centered around the problems with the security of the device, and how it would not be worth the investment money for the business buying it. Though some still maintained it was not that bad of an idea, seeing how it could be useful from a customer's perspective.

The main problem with Amber is that there just isn't a huge need for it. Unexpectedly running out of battery on your phone and needing an emergency charge when you're out on the town just isn't that common. If you are going to be somewhere for multiple hours, like an airport, that's typically prepared for by charging the phone beforehand or bringing a TSA-approved power bank. There are also lots of phone chargers you can buy from places like Amazon that are more convenient to bring with you rather than use one operated by a third party.