Mark Burginger, 52, the inventor of Qubits, a construction and educational toy, will appear on ABC’s “Shark Tank” in January.

Two former Bend residents say their television appearances on ABC’s “Shark Tank” helped their businesses take off.

“The ‘Shark Tank’ effect is real, and if you can get on that show it can really blow up your business,” said inventor and Bend native Matt Franklin, who pitched his posture correction invention to the show’s investors, aka the sharks, in June 2012. “Once ‘Shark Tank’ aired, sales went through the roof.”

Franklin said his Portland-based company, PostureNOW, has brought in more than $1 million in sales.

During the show, investor Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, agreed to invest $100,000 for 30 percent of the company and limited royalty fees.

“It went from being just more of a hobby business to a real business,” said the 1987 Bend High School graduate.

Franklin said he wasn’t expecting the increase in sales that followed the first airing of the episode on which he and partner Mike Lane appeared in September 2012 — nor the resurgence in sales when it aired again in March. It ran a third time Oct. 29, he said.

Lisa Burginger, who co-owns Qubits toys along with her husband, Mark, said the company also experienced a rise in sales after the show.

Mark Burginger landed a conditional $90,000 investment in January 2010 from investor Daymond John, creator of the FUBU clothing line — if one of the major toy companies agreed to buy in. That was not successful, according to The Bulletin’s archives.

“‘Shark Tank’ gave us the publicity,” Lisa Burginger said. “It gave us the confidence to pursue the business.”

The couple contracted with Discovery Toys and Costco.com and also sold the product in local toy stores in Central Oregon after the show. And about a year ago, she said, they relocated to Orlando, Fla., taking their business with them.

“We have a new version of Qubits, and it’s made right here in the U.S.,” she said.

The Burgingers sell the construction toy in a kiosk in an Orlando-area mall and on their website. But the couple has bigger plans.

“We hope to approach Disney,” she said. “We have the (Kennedy) Space Center here and they want us to call back after the first of the year. There’s a lot of opportunities, and that’s just in Orlando.”

Franklin is again raising money for a second posture device, the i90 Tablet Glasses. Looking like eyeglasses bred with a periscope, the tablet glasses allow users to sit straight while viewing smartphone and tablet screens in their hands or laps. Wearers do not have to bend their heads and necks forward.Franklin’s Kickstarter campaign ends today at 1 p.m. Pacific time.