Shark Tank India has returned with its second instalment on Sony Entertainment Television and Sony LIV. Shark Tank India Season 2 episode 21 titled “Adhbhut Aur Anokhe Entrepreneurs” premiered on January 30, 2023 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 21 Recap Contains Spoilers-
Shark Tank India Season 2 Episode 21 Recap
The pitches for the day are picked up with a ‘cheesy’ start all thanks to ‘Cheesecake and Co.’, founded by the supportive couple of Himanshu Gakhreja and Shreya Agarwal. Introducing the creamy fusion of tart and cake, their bakery offers 15+ varieties of cheesecakes, with the blueberry flavour reigning at the top as their speciality. Having delivered 2.5 lakhs orders, with their kitchens located in Delhi and Bengaluru kitchens, ‘Cheesecake and Co’ provides its customers with a winning combination of superior quality, taste and 100% eggless cakes.
Having started working not their dream in the year 2018, the team hopes for the sharks to invest an amount of Rs. 1 crore for 2% equity in their company. The secret ingredient used to replace eggs in the batter mix is obviously not revealed during the broadcast, but the sharks’ response will easily make one crave for at least a bite of the lot of cakes set up on stage. Even Peyush isn’t astounded to find out their business is flourishing, that’s how well made their cakes are.
Once the figures of monthly sales and the profit earned are divulged to the Sharks, they initiate their relay business talk. Namita and Vineeta can’t see it as an investible model, so they’re the first ones out of the deal. Soon after, the team tries to persuade the others by claiming that they’ve solely focussed on the bakery business till now, without having worked towards the marketing and they want the Shark to join them in order to become a corporate model.
Anupam presents his offer first with a debt option as he wants to participate in the cash flow discussions of the brand, and wholeheartedly partner with them. Aman, who finds the couple to be honest and humble entrepreneurs, join in on the deal with him, which is then revised to Rs. 50 lakhs for 5% equity and Rs. 50 lakhs debt at 15% interest. The team presents them with a counter of Rs. 1 crore for 3% equity, but are willing to extend it to 3.5% as well.
The Shark head in with their final offer of Rs. 1 crore for 5% equity, but Himanshu doesn’t go ahead with it. Staying firm on his steps, he moves on with his wife.
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For the second pitch, founders Neha Bajaj and Karen Saldanha want us all to ‘Dabble’ with their child safe, toxin free and development friendly art products. Now having inculcated 10 products like colours, glue, finger paints and more, they introduce the use of natural oils in their finger paints so that they can be easily wiped off with tissues. Even the packaging of the products transparently details out every ingredient used to prepare the mix.
In hopes of wanting ‘Dabble’ to be a child’s first art experience, the team asks the Sharks for a funding of Rs. 50 lakhs for 10% equity. Starting their journey in 2018, they’ve primarily wanted to be more transparent with their customers, which is why despite the fear of plagiarism, they’ve still listed their ingredients on the packs.
As the Sharks take turns to get their hands on them, their first positive takeaway has to be the packaging itself. However, those praises soon turn into confusion as the team opens up about the relatively lower sales than anticipated. They claim about their stupid having originated as a bootstrap business and that price has always been a challenge for them since the ingredient used to prepare the products are expensive.
Each Shark lays out their expert ideas on the matter, and even though some of them applaud the efforts, they can’t seem themselves investing in the company at the moment. This brings us to Anupam, who’s more than willing to offer them a deal, on the condition that he comes on as a business partner. He offer them Rs. 50 lakhs for 33.3% equity. Aman follows with another deal for Rs. 15 lakhs against 10% equity and Rs. 35 lakhs debt. A tussle ensues between the two Sharks, but ultimately Aman is picked as the mentor and investor for ‘Dabble’.
The penultimate pitch comes from the spokespersons of ‘Cloud Tailor’, the one stop personalised fashion and tailoring brand founded by Rudra Pratap, Susmitha Lakkakula and Mahesh Patel. Leading with the motto of “You dream it, We switch it”, they present their online platform where customers can upload their dream designs and then get the resulting tailored output delivered to them between 24 hours to 7 days.
Singling out Peyush, by bringing Lenskart’s performance into the talks, the team dreams to expand their business and make it as accessible as the eyewear chain, further pressuring the CEO. Their investment ask is for Rs. 1 crore against 1.4% equity. However, as opposed to the initial laughs, the pitch transform into a solemn one as soon as the online platform is demonstrated. The Sharks find it quite tedious to work a design on the online front, and things get even worse when the team speaks up about the high monthly cash burns. Ultimately, the trio walks away from the set without a deal.
The final round of pitches is concluded by ‘Be Unic’ and its founders Ashish Chopra, Simmi Nanda and Vishesh Chopra. Opening a conversation around the LGBTQIA+ community, the trio introduces its e-commerce platform, run by the LGBTQ community for apparel and fashion accessories. As Ashish Chopra’s coming out story is narrated to the Sharks, Simmi Nanda, i.e. his mother wins them over with her heartwarming sayings “Love them, hug them, kiss them because closet is not a place to be in”.
Presenting the numbers of the Indian LGBTQIA+ community to be as big as 5 crore, they seek to set an inspiring example in society while creating an inclusive marketplace that has over 26 queer creators on board. Through their platform, they’re also building a community and safe space and not just restricting it to the sales of merchandise as most brands do. In order to take this further and grow bigger, they ask the Sharks to invest Rs. 1 crore for 10% equity.
Once the sales numbers are revealed, the Sharks realise that the team isn’t working on this vision full-time as the founders pitch ‘Be Unic’ almost as a side project while working on other full-time positions elsewhere. Peyush is the only one to offer them a deal, but that too on the condition that they will work towards building their platform as a D2C brand instead of a marketplace, and that they’ll start working on it as a full time gig.
Pitching them an idea of also inculcating eyewear in their brand, he offers them Rs. 25 lakhs for 25% equity and Rs. 75 lakhs debt. The team can’t go ahead with the idea and they decline his offer for the moment, but leave behind a message for inclusivity and allyship.
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.
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