Shark Tank India has returned with its second instalment on Sony Entertainment Television and Sony LIV. Shark Tank India Season 2 episode 9 premiered on January 12, 2023 with the title “Invest In Lifestyle” 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 9 Recap Contains Spoilers-
‘Paradyes’ makes a colourful entry, sweeping the sharks off their feet. Rushika Jolly and Siddharth Raghuvanshi make the pitch for their “colourful and instant twist” for hair. The co-founding couple introduce a line-up of 20+ semi-permanent hair colours, which are safe for hair growth and last for 8-10 washes, thus not compelling the customer to make a long term commitment with a specific hair shade.
With sales working out on the online front, their products are listed out on their own website and other marketplaces in addition to 35+ offline health stores also facilitating them, they harbour a grand Instagram community and hope to break stereotypes associated with hair colouring.
Asking for Rs. 65 lakhs for 1% equity, they speak more about how they started out in 2020, while operations commenced for good in 2021. As the sharks take the products in their hands, they instantly start showering praises for the packaging and the pricing (Rs. 1190 for colour care combination set), making it affordable for their target audience i.e. the college-attending demographic.
Their present head-on competition is with brands like Streax, however, they offer a short range of colouring shades, while they have an expanding list for the same. Sales during the 2021-2022 cycle were recorded at Rs. 3.5 crores, and Rs. 2.5 crores have been gained as the year to date sales.
Acknowledging the fact that they’ve not focussed on the revenue based scaling yet and majorly kept to the community building aspect, they hope to grow out in the former arena with the sharks’ advice. Their September 2022 sales closed at Rs. 51 lakhs, marking growth rate of 27.5%. The average order value of the brand is Rs. 1100, with raw material taking up Rs. 40, packaging Rs. 160, logistics at Rs. 80, cost of customer acquisition is Rs.250 and salaries are marked at Rs. 330, with EBITDA at Rs. 240.
Having started the company with with her dad, who previously held a 40% acquisition, but sadly passed away during the COVID pandemic, Rushika now has the 20% equity with the remaining 20% residing with her mother. Her brother and father hold expertise in the chemical department, which makes it easier for them to procure raw material and confirm their supply chain satisfactorily.
Siddharth announces that they don’t want to restrict themselves to the semi-permanent hair game, but also want to pander out to other categories like permanent and temporary. Peyush instantly takes an interest in their category building call and offers them a deal of Rs. 65 lakhs for 5% equity. Namita moves out early on, while Vineeta takes charge, knowing the customer side of the business well. She comes along with Anupam for a deal of Rs. 65 lakhs for 4% equity.
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Aman is also up for challenging the global competitions out there and presents his offer of Rs. 65 lakhs for 5% equity. Additionally, he requests Vineeta to join forces with him for the same. Anupam grants them a chance to open the floor up for further negotiations, which is later met with a counter offer by the team for Rs. 65 lakhs for 3% equity, but with only Vineeta and Aman onboard.
Peyush is ready to match the offer, and Aman eventually agrees to joining with Anupam and Vineeta’s duo. However, another commotion is already on the way as a shark fight ensues and the whole thing leaves bitter taste in Anupam’s mouth.
Peyush brings own the equity to 2%, Anupam and Vineeta renew their offer to match it as well. ‘Paradyes’ sets the top limit at 2%, which further brings on a new offer from Peyush for only 1% equity, as a take it or leave it situation. Willing to contribute to their digital scaling aspect, he wants the customers to be able to engage with the business on their own terms and help the brand in category creation.
Anupam, on the other hand, voices the need for strategically building the company together with them, which brings on Aman’s strong claim and expertise in fighting against international rivals.
Yet again, the founders put forth a counter offer for Aman and Vineeta for Rs. 65 lakhs, 2% equity, which leads Anupam to question their integrity and he swiftly moves out. Even Peyush’s offer is turned away, and the final reins are held by Aman and Vineeta who sign the deal with ‘Paradyes’.
Following the booming pitch, Chhavi Singh is the next to come in for ‘Nestroots’, an affordable luxury home decor brand. Keeping the price tag under control, the company offers fashionable options for furniture, homeware, kitchenware and more, especially at a time when there’s a dearth of Indian brands providing everything at the same place, ensuring a hassle free customer experience.
Chhavi aims at establishing her brand as the ultimate go-to destination for Indian shoppers by providing them with products displaying elegant aesthetic and unique designs. Their website and marketplaces like Amazon and other facilitate the sales, having offered these products to 1 lakh+ households.
In hopes of building the business further, the founder’s ask is of Rs. 50 lakhs for 1% equity. ‘Nestroots’ categories include furniture, kitchenware, dining, barware, furnishing (which has been launched for the festive season), and out of these furniture is the best selling unit having secured 55% sales of the total.
Sharks take a look at all the sets displayed and sing praises for the unique in-house designing and product prices. Vineeta appreciated the premium designing, but claims that she’s never discovered the brand before despite being a thorough online shopper. Aman too moves in to talk about a similar issue by highlighting that he’s bought a similar set of cutlery elsewhere. Hearing all this, Chhavi accepts that they’ve never fully explored the category in depth, and on being asked by Peyush also unveils that they’ve merely spent Rs. 6 lakhs on marketing.
With 25% online sales and 75% offline ones, their gross margin stands at 70-75% while the net margin remains at 16-19%. Moreover, the projected sales for this year are estimated at Rs. 16 crores. Working with the inventory, ‘Nestroots’ keeps a check on the month sales and manages the designs according. They don’t put out super fad or fashionable concepts as per the latest trends, and rather keep it all on the classic, “evergreen” side.
Vineeta has a conflict of interest due to having invested in a similar brand, and moves aside. Namita then makes Chhavi an offer, after having loved her confidence and clarity of thought, for Rs. 50 lakhs, 2% equity. Beside her, Aman advises the founder to double down on the marketing, while Anupam points out the hard incoming competition and challenges and steps out as well.
Peyush declares that he was to make an offer for Rs. 50 lakhs, 5% equity, but since Namita’s offer was already a steal, he falls back too. As Vineeta calls them the red and green chilli combination due to their outfits of the day, the Chhavi and Namita become a team after all.
‘Coezy Sleep’ closes the show with a final pitch from Hardik Rathore, who highlights the need for “pampering and a deep touch” for a sound sleep and in order to counter sleep-related hazards like insomnia, anxiety etc . Presenting a line of wearable relaxers based on cocoon therapy. The material used to manufacture the product is extensively stretchable and designed in cocoon shape to offer a 360 degree compression on the body, imparting a soothing relaxation. – hotels, travel companies etc supplied . online
With an ask of Rs. 35 lakhs for 20% equity, the brand has supplied their items to hotels, travel companies and more. Peyush is glad to see the high equity scale, but as soon as Anupam is welcomed to try it on, his experience doesn’t reel out a positive response.
Lifetime sales have been recorded at Rs. 1.05 lakhs (launched recently). This brings Peyush to initially agreeing in the scientific approach but doesn’t see it as a viable business. Conversely, Anupam can’t even agree with the scientific aspect of it and even guides Hardik to rework the logo. Namita thinks this niche concept will not be readily accepted by the Indian audience and Aman straightaway tells him to rethink his business model.
Shark Tank India Season 2 Episode 9 Review
Negotiations keep getting more fiery with each episode. Peyush is also ready deal out bigger bets, as opposed to his still countenance earlier. Speaking of marketing the products, this show itself is helping the businesses a plenty in that domain, but the number of ‘shark fights’ pouring in lately feels a bit incongruous. How did a show that was all about displaying emotional tracks with its onset, suddenly become about tussles that are commonly featured in Big Boss? Something definitely feels off, and it rises up as even more inappropriate feat considering these figures are to be revered in the entrepreneurship game.
What do you think? Do you see these daily outbursts as organic reactions, or is something else at play here?
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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