Here's What Went Down With Naja After Shark Tank

Founder and CEO Catalina Girald pitched her lingerie line, Naja, on ABC's "Shark Tank." The entrepreneur, who hails from Colombia, created her line of underwear with women in mind so that they felt empowered and beautiful while wearing her products. Before arriving on "Shark Tank," Girald had been a corporate attorney and had earned an MBA from Stanford University.

Girald's business model was about implementing social change. Naja empowers women through employment, as the brand chiefly employs women, particularly those who are the primary earners for their families. Since production is located in Colombia, Girald is all about hiring and supporting women in that area. With a focus on empowering women, Naja is also all about giving back, with a portion of the proceeds going toward female education, thus giving women a chance to thrive.

Naja certainly isn't the first underwear-themed brand that we've seen on the ABC series. The monthly underwear mail subscription BootayBag saw great success after appearing on "Shark Tank." However, Naja's products were slightly different, since founder Girald had such a strong vision to create empowerment through her brand, particularly through her Underwear for Hope program. Despite these worthy aspirations, Naja didn't succeed in landing a shark deal. 

Catalina Girald pitched Naja to the sharks, asking for $500,000 in exchange for 5% equity in the lingerie line. For any fan of "Shark Tank," this is a big red flag and the primary reason why Girald failed to secure an investor. The sharks tend to steer clear of any pitches where the founder inflates the value of their company. Girald explained to the sharks that the lingerie industry was worth $14 billion, and that because her brand was focused on women for women, she was offering something unique. There's no doubt that Naja is successful. Girald told the sharks that in five months, the brand did $145,000 in sales, so there was a clear market for her product. She also explained that she was able to fundraise $850,000 to get the brand where it is.

Despite these impressive numbers, the sharks didn't bite. Mark Cuban and Robert Herjavec pulled out early on in the pitch. Kevin O'Leary offered her $500,000 in exchange for 50% of Naja; Girald promptly rejected that offer. Lori Greiner felt that Girald was spending too much energy on fundraising and not enough on selling. For those reasons, Greiner pulled out. Daymond John also took umbrage with Girald's valuation of Naja, as it was far too high for where the business actually was. John pulled out too, leaving Girald with no deal.

Catalina Girald went on to make Naja thrive, despite the lack of investors from "Shark Tank." However, people were full of comments online after watching her pitch on the ABC show. On Reddit, a group called r/Entrepreneur wanted to talk about Girald's pitch, and two issues came up for viewers. The first was that her valuation of Naja was far too grand, which is what the sharks felt too. Secondly, people theorized that Girald went on "Shark Tank" simply for free advertising rather than for an investor. After claiming that Girald may not have actually received an $850,000 investment in Naja, one person wrote, "Her attitude during her pitch was horrible as well. A part of me doesn't even think she came on the show to get any money, just for advertising."

After her "Shark Tank" pitch, Girald had an interview with The Valley Girl Show that aired on YouTube, and people had a lot to say there too. "Just saw her, she pissed off the shark tank," one person began. "[W]e know she was there to get free [ad] space!" It seems that Girald's big mistake was inflating the value of Naja, and for some fans of "Shark Tank," as well as the sharks themselves, this made the business plan seem less credible.

Despite all of Catalina Girald's best intentions for her eco-brand and women-focused business, as of 2025, it looks like Naja has gone under. At the time of writing, the website is gone from the internet, and there's no information available for anyone who's interested in purchasing their underwear. Fans of Naja were aware that the brand was shutting down, and someone jumped on Reddit to let others know. In the subgroup r/LingerieAddiction, a user began with the heading: "Naja Closing." They added further commentary, "Super sad to receive this email that this brand is closing down." They noted that in the email, they had received a discount code, and a message bidding customers farewell, but that code has long since expired. 

News spread slowly that Naja had closed down. On the brand's page on Instagram – which is still up – a curious customer asked, "Is this brand no longer active?" It's a fair question, since the link to their website is gone, and Naja hasn't posted anything new since December 2022. PitchBook, a website that compiles financial data, also lists Naja as "Out of Business," so it's really vanished. On Girald's own LinkedIn page, she placed Naja under previous experience, with her timeframe listed from January 2014 to March 2023, so the brand is officially done. It's such a shame because Girald seemed so committed to doing things differently with her line of intimate apparel. 

It appears Catalina Girald has bid farewell to her brand, Naja. Based on her LinkedIn presence, Girald has totally moved on from the world of intimate apparel, and is now in AI and software development. As of June 2024, she listed her work experience as a co-founder of Hello I'm Stealth, a stealth AI company. She also listed active work as an advisor at Halogen Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on female founded consumer technologies. While it's clear that Girald is still very focused on women in entrepreneurial spaces, she's moved on, at least for the moment, from lingerie. However, she still has links on her profile that hark back to articles about Naja and her role as founder, so she's clearly proud of the work that she put in with the brand. 

In the about section of her LinkedIn profile, Girald wrote: "3X Founder, investor and executive with 14+ years of experience building start-ups in software, consumer, and supply chain." So clearly, she counts her experience of founding Naja as a valuable stepping stone and an enriching experience in her career. However, she later wrote that her passions include animal welfare and food tech, so Girald's interests have shifted from apparel, and she is setting her sights on new ventures. Whatever she chooses to found and pursue next, we have no doubt she'll jump into it with passion and excellence.