Shark Tank India has returned with its second instalment on Sony Entertainment Television and Sony LIV. Shark Tank India Season 2 episode 25 titled “Badhta India”, premiered on February 3, 2023 during the 10-11PM IST time slot. Payel Seth is the show’s creative director, and 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 25 Recap Contains Spoilers-
Mukul Chhabra initiates the series of pitches for the day. Speaking of a neglected and unorganised sector, he introduces the modern-day ‘Scrap Uncle’, who is a trained and verified agent, weighs with 100% accuracy and provides the best value for your scrap, which is later automatically sent for the recycling process as well. Having completed more than 22,000 pickups in the Delhi NCR region, Mukul wants his platform to become India’s primary online scrap platform for which he needs funds worth Rs. 60 lakhs for 3% equity.
Monthly sales for the business stand at Rs. 27.5 lakhs and the projected sales for the financial year 2022-2023 are estimated at Rs. 6 crores. Eventually, the Sharks get into the talks and a bidding war ensues. While Vineeta offers the first deal, the main tussle begins between Amit and Anupam as they keep revising their respective offers to get the upper hand. Since the entrepreneur takes some time to respond to Anupam, he moves out of the deal, and ultimately the deal is sealed with Amit for Rs. 60 lakhs for 5% equity.
Pranav and Sangeeta Sharma’s ‘Sharma ji ka Aata’ brings in their 40 varieties of flour from Pune, which they now want to spread across the whole nation. Promoting a healthy diet, they gave up on consuming packaged flour. They even have a nutritionist on board, who helps them keep up with the nutritional value of the product while also maintaining the personalised demands of the customers.
In order to move ahead with their mission, the team needs an investment of Rs. 40 lakhs for 10% equity. Having dedicated the company’s name to her late brother, Sangeeta Ji started the business in 2019. The mother-son duo/ team shares a personal story, revealing Sangeeta Sharma to be the ‘bread earner of the family’, who also impresses the Sharks with her direct marketing strategies.
When the final steps are approached, the Sharks are ready to share their connects and resources with them to aid their business, but don’t see it as an investible business right now. Amit offers them a deal with debt, against a high percentage since it’s an early stage. Vineeta can also help them tie up with marketplaces like Amazon Fresh etc. Her offer entails debt as well.
Aman thinks they have a good offer with Vineeta so he doesn’t go ahead. On the other end, Amit joins Vineeta’s offer, which leads to Anupam dealing out an offer as well because he doesn’t want them to take a loan. He ends up giving them an offer of 40 lakh for 20% equity despite having stepped out earlier, and finally, his deal is accepted by the team.
‘Manetain’ – the one stop solution for curly hair problems, i.e. the last pitch is one that can’t be missed by the curly-haired community. As soon as the products are offered to the Sharks, Vineeta’s exclaiming cry echoes on the set. Having set her eyes on the bottle’s price being marked at Rs. 1250, it looks like she’s already made up her mind.
Meanwhile, the last month net sales are announced to have stood at Rs. 12 lakhs, but when it comes to the Sharks sharing their input on the matter, Vineeta just can’t accept the pricing. She also points out the execution gap being yet another setback for their brand and moves aside from the deal. Anupam, too, thinks they lack the marketing instinct he’s looking for in entrepreneurs.
Amit, however, takes a more “candid” route and brutally points out how much he dislikes their branding strategy. If, according to him, they lack the kind of commitment founders should possess, then Aman has a starkly different approach to it all. He supports them by taking a softer route, while also pointing out the limitations, but as opposed to Amit’s harsher and direct critique, he’s ready to help them improve their brand image.
He places an offer of Rs. 75 lakhs for 10% equity, with the standing conditions that they will improve their brand’s setup and bring in a personnel that can stand alongside them as the CMO/ co-founder and help them take the brand ahead. They try to pitch a counter of Rs. 75 lakhs for 7.5% equity, but ultimately Aman’s offer wins them over after some explanations.
Shark Tank India Season 2 Episode 25: Final Thoughts
The scene got even worse with the latest episode in Peyush Bansal’s absence. Once again it’s left up in the air for speculations whether Amit Jain and Anupam Mittal are truly at loggerheads due to some bitter undercurrents, or if it’s another theatric tactic constantly being employed by the show to keep the audience talking about it. Anupam’s offer to the ‘Sharma Ji Ka Aata’ team, and Aman’s deal with ‘Manetain’ have to be the prime highlights of the latest entry.
Extending a selfless hand to the founders of ‘Sharma Ji ka Aata’, Anupam presented them with an offer deride of an additional debt clause even when he had no intentions of going ahead with the business earlier. Aman’s counter approach to ‘Manetain’ became a softening support for the entrepreneurs, especially after Amit’s unprovoked overtly harsh comments.
This isn’t the same Amit Jain we’d seen on the previous episodes. While, his talks on the business aspects are clear, and gauge his professional expertise on the front, it feels as if the show makers are purposely pushing for him be put in a bad light. With the other Sharks having formed a joint alliance, he’s somehow always left alone in the corner. Now, the addition of these sudden outbursts at the entrepreneurs on top of that seems to be pointing at a shrewd strategy at play to make the show as dramatic as possible.
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.
Also read: MasterChef India Season 7 Episode 25 Review: Eggs Fall Hard in the Black Apron Elimination Challenge