Shark Tank India has returned with its second instalment on Sony Entertainment Television and Sony LIV. Shark Tank India Season 2 episode 27 titled “Nayi Soch Naye Vichaar”, premiered on February 7, 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 27 Recap Contains Spoilers-
Shark Tank India Season 2 Episode 27 Recap
‘Green Snack Co’ steps into light with entrepreneurs Chetan Sharda and Jasmine Kaur and their stock of healthy snacks minus MSG and preservatives. With natural ingredients making up for the deletable treat and health, the team needs an investment of Rs. 1 crore for 2% equity.
Vaibhav, Shruti and Khyati Sutariya bring on a seen before vision of varieties of art, craft and DIY products but with a new approach to the business through their brand ‘Hobby India’. With more than 5000 products available on their website, the team has cracked the SEO game on the web and gained traction as the one stop solution for all DIY demands for more than 12,000 customers. Presenting an ask of Rs. 53 lakhs for 3% equity, the founding trio wants to take over the market with their crafts and become the only station people turn to in order to complete their custom DIY needs.
Upon starting in March 2021, the business managed to gain sales worth Rs. 1.17 crores during the 2022-2023 financial year (to date). Vaibhav’s clear and transparent answers draw the Sharks in and impress them deeply. Aman rather makes a lighthearted pitch for him to join him instead. Anupam, too, appreciates the way he breaks down the unit economics and Amit acknowledges the 26 year old entrepreneur as “a seasoned businessman”.
While the other Sharks are taken over by Vaibhav’s grounded humility, they can’t speak highly for the business’ scalability. Vineeta still sees something in the game and offers them a deal of Rs. 50 lakhs for 20% equity. Since Amit likes their clarity of thought and entrepreneurship spirit as well, he joins in with Vineeta on the same offer. The team counters the Sharks to bring the equity down to 4%, but since neither of the sides budge from their decision, no deal is sealed in the end, yet it’s a fruitful exchange for them both.
‘Flhexible’ founded by Abhimanyu Singh and Shilpi Dua is a sustainable and eco-friendly furniture brand that presents flexible, space-friendly modular furniture made out of cardboard honeycomb structure. Offering a durability of 10-12 years, the furniture line is sold off via their retail outlets in Jaipur, online marketplaces and through their own website. Speaking on the strength held by the hexagonal arrangement of the honeycomb structure, the team asks the Sharks for an investment of Rs. 50 lakhs against 7.5% equity.
Coming down to what the Sharks think of the furniture, Anupam claims the whole thing to be a bit too gimmicky, and something that can’t translate to a lifestyle brand because the structure so prepared is neither dust friendly nor pet friendly. The cardboard can be easily ruptured, which hampers the entire business itself. Moreover, the high rate prices (Rs. 7500) don’t sit well with their vision of affordability either. While it may be helping the customers save on space, the business model barely has any repeat customers and is mostly handed out as corporate gifting, which make up for 60% of their total sales.
With monthly sales standing low at Rs. 3.5 lakhs, the Sharks can’t envision the business as a scalable one, especially within the Indian context. The lack in consumer demand becomes the prime factor driving them all away, ultimately leading to no offers for the team.
Then comes the next pitch. At the young ages of 21 and 20 respectively, Kartik Sabherwal and Vaibhav Kumar introduce a new age category not only from the business perspective, but also as a career option. Pro-gaming that is often seen synonymous with wasting one’s time in Indian households has rather opened up a grand avenue for the two founders who’ve organised several virtual-based gaming events through their production company ‘Upthrust Esports’.
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Broadcasting these events on their YouTube channel holding in subscribers more than 3.5 lakhs, the team has come up with over 30 gaming events till now, all of which have resulted in a pool prize of Rs. 1 crore. In hopes of developing a platform where gamers can showcase their talent and with a dream to empower esports in India, the duo pitches for a funding of Rs. 75 lakhs for 3% equity.
Further demonstrations carry out as Amit and Anupam join the entrepreneurs for a head-on battle of gaming and a professional esports caster, Piyush Bhatla comes onboard as well to spice up the competition scene. The Sharks again face the scalability hindrance with the e-gaming organisers as well despite their sales having risen as high as Rs. 3 crores during the financial year 2022-2023.
While Anupam thinks that they can only scale up to a particular limit, Aman believes that esports is the future, but again, at the moment, the business model is still in the works and quite experimental for them to settle into. They ask the entrepreneurs to cheer up after not having received an investment as they can still go ahead with these sky-high sales now that they have opened up a conversation around this unconventional profession on a national platform.
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.