Shark Tank India has returned with its second instalment on Sony Entertainment Television and Sony LIV. Shark Tank India Season 2 episode 29 titled “Pulse of the Country”, premiered on February 9, 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 29 Recap Contains Spoilers-
Shark Tank India Season 2 Episode 29 Recap
Manufacturing tea-glass washing machines for tea shops and stalls, ‘Mahantam’ is the first team to join the Sharks for the day. Founders Dhaval and Jayesh Nai push for their company’s motto, which is also the need of the hour in this sector – “hygiene is not a luxury but a necessity”. Their plan for the day is to get all five Sharks on-board and their ask is for Rs. 30 lakhs 20% Equity. Promoting the vision of entrepreneurs hailing from villages and making it big in the market, the founders of the company are highly praised by the Sharks for inspiring the whole nation, especially youngsters.
While their business model is still settling within its initial stages, the entrepreneurs’ life story is a living testament that proves ‘where there is will, there is a way’, and that helping hands will always support you if you dream big enough and have the conviction to bring your ambitions to fruition. They ultimately get an offer from Anupam, which is finalised upon collaboration with the rest of the Sharks as well. ‘Mahantam’ gets what it came for as the team bags an all Shark deal for Rs. 30 lakhs against 20% equity, at a valuation of Rs. 1.5 crores.
The second pitch picks up with a Yes or No game with the Sharks. ‘MindPeers’, the world’s first Mental strength platform offering tools for mental well-being prepares to impress the Sharks with a realistically grounded pitch that focusses on a paramount issue that plagues the nation. Bagging the title as the most depressed nation in the world, India leads these unfavourable statistics, and founders Sahil Chitkara and Kanika Agarwal from Delhi seek to proactively improve people’s mental health with their platform’s proprietary algorithm.
The framework so highlighted measures how one’s career, relationships, financial status and other factors affect mental health. Guiding 3.5 lakh users at the moment of the pitch, the company has expanded its reach to Singapore, the UK and US, but in order to convert the treatment of mental health from being labelled as a privilege to a need, the founders need funds amounting Rs. 53 lakhs for 1% equity.
Kanika opens up about how her personal experience with issues like the fear of failure, anxiety and panic attacks have changed the way she views these matters, which ultimately gave her the push to get into this business. The platform’s interface is demonstrated to the Sharks, revealing the enrolment of 6 psychologists on their payroll which charges customers a monthly subscription of Rs. 350. While their brand is flourishing mostly due to its B2B connections, the team needs it to own its place as a household brand, for which, it too needs all Sharks with them on this journey.
Appeals to them are made individually in order to draw everyone’s attention, and it eventually kickstarts the series of offers dealt out by the Sharks. Peyush begins the chain by offering them exactly what they asked for, and Namita and Vineeta, “the unbeatable combination”, follow up with the same thing as well.
Peyush continues to pitch his respective contribution with global HR tools to the platform’s future. However, Aman can’t resist joining the winning combo of Vineeta and Namita’s team. Ultimately, Peyush is also convinced by the founders to join the bigger team of Sharks, but he also presents a separate offer in addition to the joint deal. The deal is sealed with him, Aman, Namita and Vineeta as a team for Rs. 53 lakhs against 1% equity, with the LensKart founder adding on to it with another solo offer of the same value. All in all, ‘MindPeers’ returns triumphant with a grand deal of Rs. 1.06 crores against 2% equity.
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Durlabh Kumar’s range of 100% natural food products like milk, ghee, oil, pickles, filter coffee etc closes the pitching sessions of the day with the introduction of ‘Barosi’. Honing the vision to turn into a ubiquitous brand that is accepted in kitchens across the nation, the founder hopes to bag a funding of Rs. 50 lakhs against 2% equity, along with the Sharks’ guidance.
Just like the brand name begins with a ‘B’ denoting Bharat and ends with the ‘I’ of India, the entrepreneur’s goal is to connect the two sides of the nation – the rural and the urban – through his products. The sales and other numbers are revealed, but the Sharks feel that a differentiation is amiss. Both Peyush and Aman having invested in similar brand categories earlier with ‘Anveshan’ and ‘Hampi’ respectively, agree that ‘Barosi’ has fallen behind in the competition.
Starting out as a bootstrapped brand, it tops the searches on Big Basket, but comes second on Amazon, with ‘Anveshan’ taking the lead. As the founder divulges the high total number of SKUs standing at 23, the Sharks aren’t able to distinguish his brand from others in the same category. Vineeta even mentions the lack of a ‘hero product’ and counters his thoughts by adding that the brand should’ve utilised its space on Instagram to promote visuals of the farm life and gain traction among the audience.
Aman urges him to run faster in the race so as to be able to catch up with the brand’s rivals in the competition. Even though Durlabh Kumar doesn’t get the deal he wanted, he still receives guidance aplenty and returns with a smile on his face, and great lessons in hand to improve the brand’s status.
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.