American millionaire and investor Kevin O’Leary has already invested more than 8 million euros in about 40 companies in “Shark Tank”, a television format that has already passed through Portugal and which as investors were from Mário Ferreira or João Rafael Koehler. But not all O’Leary’s investments have been positive.

O’Shares, the head of the ETFs, had some successful deals in the program, such as investing in an online painted meal kit service, which later sold for around 300 million euros, CNBC Make It shows.

However, the businessman says he admitted to losing half a million euros in a deal in the programme, although he refused to reveal the name of the company in question.

I put $250,000 into a settlement. Then the investor called me four months later saying, ‘Look, I’ve spent all the money. But I know what I did wrong. I need more [250 mil dólares]’ ‘ says O’Leary.

Although alarm bells sounded in O’Leary’s head, the investor decided to make a second investment of €250,000, a figure that disappeared two months later. It went to zero after 60 days. “I lost half a million euros,” O’Leary says.

Entrepreneur warns investors to follow the warning signs and points the finger at entrepreneurs as their stubbornness prevents them from changing their bad habits and tactics. “I ignored it and it cost me half a million euros,” he asserts.