Shark Tank India has returned with its second instalment on Sony Entertainment Television and Sony LIV with the motto “Entrepreneur ki Leher Ek Baar Firse”. Shark Tank India Season 2 episode 3 premiered on January 4, 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.
The first team of the third episode is that of two sisters, Rebekah and Ariella, who’ve founded the brand ‘Atmosphere Kombucha’ – one of the first and finest kombucha brands of India. The preparation of the cold probiotic healthy drink is possible by fermenting green tea with bacteria. Through Starbucks and Blue Tokay, they supply their drinks in India.
Having recognised the lack of employment as well education opportunities for women, they’ve enrolled a 100% women workforce with 14 women employees at the minute work alongside them. Their ultimate aim is to curb gut-related problems plaguing 56% of Indian families. And, their ask is for Rs. 75 lakh for 3% equity.
In the beverage market worth Rs. 15,000 crores, they want to market their kombucha as a healthy drink. Rating each bottle at Rs 220, they’re open to rethinking the price once their reach expands.
Namita Thapar raises a valid issue about the cold chain business that presents a big challenge to business model. Once forwarded to third-party suppliers, there’s a chance of the drink becoming extra fizzy and fermented if not refrigerated.
The pitchers declare their sales standing at Rs. 1 crore, with the supply distribution as follows: 40% online business , 20% retail and 40% cafes. Ultimately, the final amount earned in their hands is Rs. 29 lakhs. The sharks identify the high challenge factor accompanies the business as the team sells kombucha through trains, with ice packs coming to their aid, but again, constraining their reach at the moment.
Reaching out to Shark Tank India, they seek to establish a new manufacturing unit to grow further, as it’ll help them produce 3 lakh bottles per month. Anupam presents the first offer at Rs. 75 lakhs for 20% equity, which is followed by Vineeta’s offer – 30 lakh for 10% equity and Rs. 45 lakhs debt at 12% interest. ‘Atmosphere Kombucha’ forwards a counter offer of Rs. 75 lakhs for 8% equity to Anupam. However, their valuation doesn’t match so the offer is eventually turned down.
The next team to walk in is the trio of Shashank, Parveen and Vinay, co-founders of ‘STAGE’, the first OTT platform in India to be circulating original content in endless Indian dialects. Having started the cause with Haryanavi, they now have 1000+ Haryanavi creators on the platform, with 1.3 lakh paid subscribers.
Their ask is for Rs. 3 crores for 1% equity, and they seek to diminish the prevailing classism in Indian society which judges, stereotypically perceives and even discriminates against people speaking a dialect in a particular tone. In hopes of diverting the organicity of the country back to its roots, their aim is remind people that the horizon extends beyond Hindi and English in our country, a signature carrier of ‘unity in diversity’.
Additionally, they also speak up about their previous endeavour, their former content company – WittyFeed, established in 2014, which went to become the second biggest content website after BuzzFeed. Unfortunately, they were de-platformed on Facebook (highest traffic gains) in 2018 as they were shunned as a non-American source influencing American voters. ‘STAGE’ was finally launched on November 1 2019, as the team gained support from most of its former employees, who went on to invest in the new vision.
With 100% original content, they have a hyper-local approach, containing the dialects of the content, their audience and creators within the local level. The making costs for web series or movies are recorded at Rs. 20 lakhs. Viewers can access it via their app on both iOS and android devices, with an additional feature available on Smart TV as well.
The statistics delivered by them were as follows- week 4 retention recorded at 94%, while the amount raised was Rs. 10 crores in 2020, Rs. 20 crores pre money 80 crores in 2021 and Rs. 36 crores in 2022., with monthly burns at Rs. 1.1 crores.
Peyush, Namita and Aman present a collective offer of Rs. 1.5 crores for 0.6% equity and Rs. 1.5 crores debt at 18% interest, which is finally agreed upon and the deal is sealed.
Finally, Pooja and Benoy join in as the third and final team to introduce their brand ‘Girgit’, India’s first colour-changing product store for kids as well as adults. They’ve sold 3000 products and have 1800 customers and present an ask of Rs. 20 lakhs for 10% equity.
Having the advantage of expanding their family business, they have the direct access to cheap raw material to produce temperature sensitive prints with a set of special photocromatic colours. They’ve applied their vision on clothes, watch bands, shoes and more, all of which they hand out to the sharks for testing.
The price rates for the shoes stand at Rs. 2000 for kids and Rs. 3000 for adults. No other Indian brand has targeted this side of the fashion domain yet, while ‘Girt’ has achieved lifetime sales of Rs. 58 lakhs by doing so, and earned a high gross margin of 79%. 65% of sales happen via WhatsApp, while the rest are possible through exhibitions.
Namita Thapar guides them to expand their brand further, particularly in the children’s arena and offers them Rs. 20 lakhs for 20% equity. The couple voices a counter offer of Rs. 20 lakhs for 15% equity, which is accepted by both parties and the deal is signed.
Shark Tank India Season 2 Episode 3 Review
Episode 3 kept the gimmicks on the lower side, and made it all strictly about business. As also highlighted by the sharks, ‘STAGE’ may have been the winner of the day, but they also won everyone’s hearts and respect in the process as well. Rising to the occasion with the true entrepreneur spirit, they stayed determined to prove their vision’s worth to the world despite having faced defeat with their former grand-scale platform. Out of the three teams welcomed today, they were a class apart.
Not does their ambition hope to achieve grandeur but it’s also directed to the right place. As streaming platforms like Netflix, Prime Video and more grow, people who still choose to stay connected to the roots of their mother tongue in India are being overtly cut off from connections within a society that was established its foundations from the group up following the image of staying united even in diversity. However, the present day scenario, which is being governed on the basis of lookism, classism and a biased groundwork that seeks to disparage people speaking in a certain dialect, has now overturned the building blocks of the Indian society.
The sharks not only empathised with the team’s journey till now, but also praised them for being original visionaries footed in the local experience.
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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