Americans love successful people. We idolize the wealthy, we watch movies centering upon their interpersonal drama, and we even currently have a billionaire running for the oval office. Success means quite a bit to television audiences, and no TV show has ever taken that concept more literally than Shark Tank. The ABC reality series about angel investors has existed in a genre of its own for quite some time. Now, it looks as though NBC wants to get in on the action with a Shark Tank of its very own.
We've learned that NBC has given a series order for the reality TV show Funded, and will soon bring the project to air. The series will follow noted entrepreneurs Rob Dyrdek, Rohan Oza, and Tyra Banks as they team-up with real life start-ups and host a competition for a $1 million angel investment into these small businesses. The overall premise of Funded seems to take ample inspiration from The Voice as well as Shark Tank. Each of the show's three hosts will pick a specific start-up to mentor, and the three chosen businesses will compete against one another in an attempt to ultimately win the seed money to turn their respective visions into a reality. By the end of each episode, the three contestants will find themselves placed in front of a venture capitalist, and they will have to use everything that they have learned throughout their tutelage with one of the three hosts in order to pitch their idea as the best of the bunch.
NBC seems to have covered the bases pretty thoroughly with each of the three hosts of Funded. Former skateboarder Rob Dyrdek made a name for himself by building a clothing and entertainment empire, supermodel Tyra Banks similarly found success when she branched out from the fashion industry and became a TV personality / business woman, and Rohan Oza became as an entrepreneur in the health food industry with major brands such as Smartwater and Pop Chips. Each of these individuals brings a different and specific skill set to the series and will likely serve as valuable resources for the hungry contestants.
We live in an era where a series like Funded has become incredibly interesting to the masses. These days it doesn't necessarily matter where you went to school or who you know in a given industry. A smart idea or some strong technical know-how can turn your idea for an app or a small business into a major success. Funded will seemingly capitalize (pun intended) on that idea while going much deeper into the backstories of these businesses than the rapid fire Shark Tank on ABC ever could.
Make sure to stay tune for more information related Funded. Although a premiere date has not yet been announced for the upcoming NBC series, you can check out our summer premiere schedule for more information related to all this summer's most highly anticipated summer TV debuts.
