Asian American boba brand finds opportunity after Simu Liu sparks cultural appropriation debate

Olivia Chen and Pauline Ang, friends and business partners on boba milk tea brand Twrl, have tried three times to get on “Shark Tank,” the ABC reality show where up-and-coming entrepreneurs try to woo big-name backers.

Now, in a plot twist they couldn’t have imagined, the San Francisco Bay Area-based women have a chance to pitch a pretty well-known investor — actor Simu Liu. The irony is that it came about after they posted a video on TikTok in support of Liu calling out the white owners of a boba drink brand for cultural appropriation on “Dragons’ Den,” the Canadian version of “Shark Tank.” Somehow it found its way to Liu and the “Shang-Chi” star invited Twrl to send his team a “pitch deck.”

“I actually wasn’t sure it wasn’t real, to be honest,” said Chen, who posted the day after seeing “Dragons’ Den” clips. “I decided I wanted to make a video because I wanted to let people know there are other alternatives out there like ourselves.”

This “Dragons’ Den” episode backlash struck a nerve in the ongoing debate on how someone who sells something specific to a culture that isn’t their own walks the line between appropriation and appreciation. There is no business manual on exactly how to do it. It also highlighted how when someone who doesn’t have personal ties to a product inextricably linked to a culture profits, it can exacerbate disparities with businesses from marginalized or overlooked groups. The Twrl founders say they hope the initiative they took moves those conversations forward and educates some people along the way.

Liu, who is a guest venture capitalist on this season of “Dragons’ Den,” declined to get into business with the Quebec-based founders of Bobba, which peddles bottled boba drinks, including alcoholic