Shark Tank India has returned with its second instalment on Sony Entertainment Television and Sony LIV. Shark Tank India Season 2 episode 12 premiered on January 17, 2023 with the title “Pitchers Ki Undying Spirit” during the 10-11PM IST time slot. Payel Seth is the show’s creative director, while it’s been produced by Studio NEXT, with Ravikesh Vatsa as its writer.
The show is hosted by comedian Rahul Dua, and graced by six judges, better known as sharks – Anupam Mittal Founder-CEO of Shaadi.com – People Group; Aman Gupta, Co-Founder-CMO of boAt; Namita Thapar, Executive Director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals; Vineeta Singh, Co-Founder-CEO of SUGAR Cosmetics; Peyush Bansal, Founder-CEO of Lenskart.com and Amit Jain, Co-Founder-CEO of CarDekho Group and InsuranceDekho.com.
-Shark Tank India Season 2 Episode 12 Recap Contains Spoilers-
Shark Tank India Season 2 Episode 12 Recap
Fusing ‘nanny ke nuskhe’ and doctor’s prescription, Sayyam and Sunny Jain, the founders of ‘Ghar Soaps’ bring on a unique line of skincare products, with an amalgamation of ayurveda and Science, for which they ask Rs. 60 lakhs for 2% equity.
Projected sales of August 2022 are recorded at Rs. 1 crore, and the first quarter helped them gain Rs. 1.5 crores, leaving them with Rs. 15 lakhs worth of profit. Aman is impressed by the product and its minimalistic packaging. Amit raises a question about how they came up with the products and due to some miscommunication the in-depth analysis of the same doesn’t across to him.
Anupam takes up their business statistics and is stunned to witness their gains of 70% sales via their own website, while on the slight remaining percentage is acquired through other marketplaces. The sharks have a hard time believing their game of digital marketing, leading to the success standing in front of them.
Aman, too, notices how similar brands have often faced burns and really earned profits like them. Sayyam reveals that they’re picking on certain accessories (like ice rollers and eye patch) and pairing them up with the product in order to scale ahead. They’re also moving to the technological edge to enhance their business model further through which a face recognition app will detect one’s skin defects and come up with a custom combination. Anupam counters this approach by adding that such apps already exist in the market, but Sayyam has his answer ready as he points out North India barely has access to such facilities yet.
While its all been about Sayyam till now, the sharks ask about the role played by Sunny as well, and the former appreciates the execution of his plans, which is all handled by his step-brother, and Peyush picks this up as well and respects their attitude towards each other. Anupam brings on a more personal question about their relationship, while Peyush commends their hustling approach and offers them Rs. 60 lakhs for 10% equity, Anupam joins in as well for the same deal.
Aman comes on with an individual offer and hopes to help them with Amazon and Flipkart, and offers the same deal. This initiates a heated crossfire between him and Anupam, and Amit feels stuck in the middle. On returning back, a hiked counter offer of Rs. 1 crore for 5% equity is presented by the team, and Anupam and Peyush are startled to see it.
Going ahead with further negotiations, Aman lays on a revised offer of Rs. 60 lakhs for 4% equity, Peyush and Anupam match it as well. Aman, however, will back out if they go out again for discussion, and the team takes up Aman’s offer as the final deal.
Talking about grass-root level problems of healthcare and the need to eradicate them by the use of technology, Arun Agarwal walks in with his brand of wearable and AI enabled devices and software – ‘Janitri’, to save the lives of pregnant mothers and their babies throughout the entire course of the pregnancy and even post that period. To curb these arising complications at the time of deliveries, Arun asks the sharks for Rs. 1 crore for 2.5% equity.
3 products are introduced – Keyar patch (monitors fetal heart rate, maternal heart rate, labour contraction and dental movement), Daksh software (movie app connected with Keyar), Navam wearable to monitor fetal movement (prototype stage).
Their business is set up as per the basis of a B2B model for now, with supplies going out to hospitals. A fetal monitor pre-exists with a few probes which need to be adjusted by the nurse from time to time for monitoring, which is then connected to a monitor with a thermal printer, which requires the doctors to physically visit the room to check upon it. However, since they’ve digitalised this data, it can be made available on the phone as well, further narrowing down the observational parameters to help the doctors in their decision making. 12 patents were filed for the products, out of which 4 have been granted till now.
Sales recorded by the company during the financial year of 21-22 were Rs. 1.03 crores, having launched in March 2021, but they’ve also incurred a burn of 15 lakhs during the last month expenses. ‘Janitri’ has been funded by BIRAC and GATES foundation, Govt of Canada and Govt of Karnataka (all grants). Amount raised included 50% grant and 50% equity.
Namita’s offer strikes as this is her category and she can help in tie-ups with nursing homes. She offers him Rs. 75 lakhs for 5% equity and Rs. 25 lakhs Debt, which is met by some counters from the founder. She instantly jumps the gun and offers him Rs. 60 lakhs for 2% equity and Rs. 40 lakhs Debt. Anupam praises Arun’s countering approach to the global players who have established a monopoly over this healthcare business. He feels proud to see that the market is opening up to Indian methods with his brand.
Aman was ready to give him an offer after listening to his inspirational story, but stays out of it because he believes Namita to be the perfect shark for this deal, who claims that pharma and technology need to come together to create the much-needed magic.
Some questions are raised by Amit, which brings us back to Namita speaking highly of her connections in 70 countries, and Peyush tries to join in on the deal with her, but she is determined to go solo with this one. Eventually, Amit and Peyush come on with a joint offer of Rs. 1 crore for 5% equity, which is later revised by the former to an offer of Rs. 1 crore for 2.5% equity with the condition that if revenue of Rs. 20 crores is not achieved in the next financial yer, the sharks with get an additional 2.5% equity.
Namita summarises all the deals for Arun, while also scoffing at the other sharks for competing with her in this category. Her first deal is as mentioned before, and it comes with no conditions attached, whereas she introduces a matching as that of Peyush and Amit, with the same condition. Arun goes ahead with the second (contingent) deal offered by Namita and finalises the matter.
Gaurav Mehta is the last pitcher of the day, pushing the vision of India’s first micro-luxury watch brand – ‘Jaipur Watch Company’, which started out its operations in 2013. The company doesn’t merely produce watches but also taps into the rich Indian heritage and history (a specific design uses the last British India’s coin as its highlight) by reflecting the same on their designs. Corporate figures, prominent celebrities, and even the PM of India have bought their product. Sales are carried out through online marketplaces and their own website.
Following his dream of establishing a space for an Indian luxury brand in the market, leading with the motto “India + Luxury = Global”, Gaurav presents his ask of Rs. 50 lakhs for 2% equity.
Two categories of watches are included in their line-up – Pret and Bespoke. The former one has a price range of Rs. 20,000 – 50,000, whereas the latter, which is also gold-plated, has a price range of Rs. 1.5 – 24 lakhs. This straightaway brings Aman to voicing the need for smartwatches, and Gaurav replies by stating that the designs for the same are already in the pipeline.
Annual sales for the financial year 2021-2022 were recorded at Rs. 1.07 crores, with the Pret category garnering 80% of the total sales and the remaining 20% by Bespoke. Gaurav also breaks down the criteria of the sales and how he broke through the market with one standalone store situated in Jaipur, his five star hotel strategy and the corporate gifting option. The gross margin of the business is listed at 75% an net margin at 25%.
Peyush brings up the idea of the approaching companies like ETHOS and Kapoor and Sons to supply their watches, but Gaurav’s reply is not only heart-breaking, but also eye-opening. He divulges that such brands are only interested in maintaining a line-up of international products and haven’t exhibited any interest in promoting Indian watch brands. Thereafter, he also adds on about a new concept of “instant Bespoke watches” coming up soon, through which customers will be able to witness live customisation of their purchase.
Aman goes on to talk about the brand consumer strategy, which is met with Gaurav’s response about a company’s survival instinct kicking in. However, Aman quickly shuns the idea in this case. Namita seems interested in the watch industry, but categorises the two up and coming divisions ruling the market at the moment – smartwatches or the “aspirational” group (wherein people gather funds gradually just to be able to buy a particular object of their desire), and in Gaurav’s case the scalability is limited.
Peyush thinks he should focus on the branding, and open more offline stores instead. In hopes, that Gaurav builds a unique Indian luxury brand, he wishes him the best and steps out of the deal. On the other hand, Anupam believes that the founder is a bit confused with his approach. He even speaks of the brand’s name being a misfit, that he and can’t see it as an investible company at the present moment. Final advice sent out by him is that Gaurav should raise the prices for the super luxury items at the top, while introduce some changes for the lower end category.
Amit can’t capture the clarity in the company’s policy, as it shifts from being a B2B to B2C quite haphazardly. Lastly, Aman assents to helping him with the brand strategy, but only off-field, and not as an investor. Gaurav Mehta walks away with loads of advises to amend his business model, and has no deal for the day.
Shark Tank India Season 2 Episode 12: Final Thoughts
While we’ve officially moved on from the MasterChef format of the pitches, the lingering sense of calculated fights between the sharks is still up in the air. Somehow, Anupam is always found to be at the centre of these altercations, regardless of who they’re directed at, and it leaves the audience with no choice but to ponder over the fact if this is in fact being deliberately and intentionally.
Whatever, the reason may be, some things have been disordered about the new season since the every beginning and the same sour taste has been carried forth, which will be present in the further episodes as well no matter how much they strategically try to build up the case for themselves. And, now that Amit Jain is in the game, Vineeta Singh is out. We need to see all the six sharks present at the same time to see what kind of drama ensues from here on. The more the merrier, but the episodes are following quite a random game plan, which isn’t making much sense at the moment.
Shark Tank India Season 2 episodes will be broadcasted on Sony Entertainment Television and live-streamed on SonyLIV from Monday to Friday at 10 PM IST.