Our Story
About Us:
Squid Industries's mission is to create affordable, high quality balisong trainers that are accessible to everyone around the world. All the trainers produced by Squid Industries are made in the USA.
A message from our founder and president, Lucas Cao:
“I joined the balisong community in 2013, and it’s been an incredible journey to where we are today. After diving into balisongs and becoming obsessed with collecting and flipping, I found that the balisong community was starving for new designs at lower pricings. I saw a massive rift in the market after the Bradley Kimura 7 was discontinued and felt that many people couldn’t get into the hobby without spending a fortune. I founded Squid Industries because the community needed high quality flippers at an affordable price. My efforts have and always will be providing solutions to the balisong community.
The Squid Industries team and I spend countless hours carefully hand tuning and assembling each and every trainer to ensure smooth action with minimal handle play. We work closely with the balisong community to constantly improve our products. Squid Industries aims to provide the best balance and most enjoyable flipping experience possible. We're incredibly passionate about balisongs and hope that our products can help you enjoy flipping as much as we do."
Our Story:
June 2013
Lucas acquires his first balisong (butterfly knife).
“One of my best friends brought me a Jaguar CCC that he purchased from San Francisco's Chinatown and initially I was a bit intimidated by the serrated blade. I remember that he could only do two basic opening tricks, but I was still mind blown because I couldn't comprehend anything that was going on with either trick. It felt like I had just witnessed magic. He left the Jaguar with me for a week because he didn't want to get in trouble with his parents for bringing it home. When he found out how much I was enjoying it, he let me keep it.”
March, 2015
After months of giving balisong advice and help on Reddit, the community unanimously votes for Lucas to become the head moderator of /r/balisong.
“When I stumbled upon Reddit's main balisong page, I found that the community was incredibly small. Everyone was very friendly but barely anyone had any experience with flipping or collecting. Most members didn't know much about balisongs or the market so I found myself answering questions every day for people looking to get into the hobby. After months of answering the same questions over and over again, people began to realize that the sub needed an FAQ. I contacted the mod at the time, but he seemed to be afk. Eventually, we decided as a community to move over to another subreddit and we were able to relocate to /r/balisong.”
August 2015
Lucas begins making custom G10 Squid Scales for the balisong community.
September 16, 2015
Lucas begins prototyping his first trainer, the Squidtrainer, while attending De Anza Community College.
December 21, 2015
Lucas sells his first batch of four Squidtrainers!
January 4, 2016
Lucas establishes Squid Industries and takes his first 50 pre-orders for the Squidtrainer.
September 22, 2016
Lucas transfers to University of California, San Diego (UCSD) majoring in Mechanical Engineering.
June 3, 2017
Lucas releases his second balisong trainer model, the Trident (now discontinued).
September 2, 2017
We release the Triton, the successor to the discontinued Trident.
December 16, 2017
Lucas reveals the Squiddy, the world's first CNC machined PVC-C balisong. Lucas developed the Squiddy to be a friendly looking and non-threatening balisong trainer that flippers can flip in public without disturbing others. The Squiddy is perfect for all ages, including young ones, and is TSA approved!
May 31, 2018
Lucas decides to make a small professional change to his Instagram handle by changing the username to @squidindustriesco. You can follow Lucas on his personal Instagram at @squidmaster23.
June 24, 2018
We release the Mako, a fun shark shaped balisong trainer!
November 23, 2018
We release our second brother in the Squiddy family, the Squiddy-G (now discontinued). This model featured a gray colorway with unique face design on the blade.
December 7, 2018
We purchase our first CNC machine, a Haas VF2SS! This was our first huge step towards moving all machining in house!
December 15, 2018
Lucas drops out of UCSD's Mechanical Engineering program to pursue Squid Industries full time.
“For the longest time, I struggled with balancing school and Squid Industries because I could never give my full attention and effort to either. After years of contemplation, I finally decided that the balisong community is where my heart lies and so I dropped out of college and pursue Squid Industries. "
May 25, 2019
We release the Squiddy-C, a clear variant of the Squiddy made from polycarbonate. To show how durable this version was, we made a short IG video of us throwing it off our building roof several times.
June 7, 2019
We release the Nautilus and our first live blade, the Krake Raken, at Blade Show 2019 in Atlanta. We also release our redesigned Mako to V2 which gives the blade a bottle opener function!
November 2nd, 2019
Squid Industries hosts the very first West Coast Flipping Championship, a live-blade competition of 32 flippers. The championship took place at Blade Show West 2019.
April 11th, 2020
The Squiddy family grows larger with the addition of the Squiddy-B. This new variant features an all black aesthetic and is made from acetal, an extremely tough and durable material. It also sports sound dampening nose rings for near silent flipping.
April 14th, 2020
The Krake Raken Bowie is debuted with its first production release.
June 7th, 2020
The Krake Raken Trainer is released which sports an all new blade profile and finish.
August 29th, 2020
Our popular Krake Raken is updated from V1 to V2 with all sorts of changes. You can read all of the changes in our blog post here which affects all blade shapes.
November 16th, 2020
Squid Industries moves to a new 8500 sq ft facility in Fremont, CA.
April 25th, 2021
The Tsunami is debuted! The Tsunami is our first titanium live blade offering. It features numerous bells and whistles and is our top-of-the-line product at $750 USD. Only ten units were available in the first production run. Specifications and more information can be found at our other website, Squid Industries Knives.
June 3rd, 2021
The limited edition Squiddy-Glow is released! This model used the Squiddy-C handles and profile but featured an acrylic blade that glowed in the dark. Check out this video to see it in action.
September 7th, 2021
The Triton V2 is released which features a new hardened blade and sleek milling lines for additional grip.
September 30th, 2021
We give the Mako a makeover and give it channel handles with the all new version V4! We also added gills to the handles for additional swagger.
October 13th, 2021
Blade Show West 2021 took place at Long Beach, CA this year so that's where we hosted our annual competition, the West Coast Flipping Championships 2021! Congratulations to 1st place @seijib, 2nd place @ihatejoff, and 3rd place @skooma___
December 4th, 2021
Our first accessory for the Krake Raken is created! The Anchor is an innovative product that functions as both a pocket clip and latch. It quickly attaches and detaches so that users don't have to worry about it getting in the way of flipping.
February 28th, 2022
The Mako receives another upgrade to the V4.5! This upgrade includes a reduction in the gill size along with a change in the placement of the gills, allowing for increased durability!
April 8th, 2022
The long awaited Carbon Fiber Nautilus is finally here! We replaced the normal G10 scales with Carbon Fiber scales.