Shark Tank India is an Indian business reality television series on SET India. The show is the Indian franchise of the American show Shark Tank.

What is Shark Tank?

Shark Tank is officially a business reality television series. It is an American franchise of the International format Dragon’s Den, which originated in Japan as Money Tigers in 2001. (Ref. Wikipedia)

Shark Tank India is the Indian franchise of Shark Tank America, a similar business reality television series aired on SET India. The first season of Shark Tank India premiered from 20 December 2021 to 4 February 2022. It offered the budding entrepreneurs to boost their understanding of the Indian market and value everything around them. The reality show demanded the entrepreneurs make business presentations to a panel of investors or “sharks” who would further decide whether to invest in their company or not. Anything can be turned into a valuable asset with just a small idea.

Let’s move ahead with the “Sharks” as we know about the show.

Who were the Sharks?

The sharks were the investors who came forward to invest in the young entrepreneurs’ business. Let’s know about the sharks who shared their valuable piece of time and invested in the upcoming generation of India.

1. Ashneer Grover – Managing Director and Co-founder, BharatPe

2. Aman Gupta – Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer, boAt

3. Anupam Mittal – Founder and CEO, People Group and Shaadi.com 

4. Ghazal Alagh – Co-founder and Chief Mama, Honasa Consumer Pvt Ltd (MamaEarth)

5. Namita Thapar – Executive Director, Emcure Pharmaceuticals

6. Peyush Bansal – Co-founder and CEO, Lenskart

7. Vineeta Singh – CEO and Co-founder, SUGAR Cosmetics

Let’s know something more about each of our sharks.

Shark-1: Ashneer Grover

• Ashneer Grover is an Indian business tachyon who is the Managing Director and Co-founder of BharatPe.

• Education:

• Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

• B Tech, Civil Engineering (2000 – 2004)

• INSA Lyon

• B Tech, Civil Engineering (2002 – 2003)

• Exchange Student Program. He was among the top 6 students selected by IIT Delhi, in a batch of 450, for the Exchange Program with the University of INSA-Lyon, France, for 2002-2003. 

• The French Embassy awarded him a scholarship of € 6000.

• Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

• Masters of Business Administrations (2004 – 2006)

• MBA, Management in Finance

• BharatPe is an Indian Fintech Company that caters to small merchants and Kirana store owners in India. The company offers a range of fintech products. Interoperable QR codes for UPI payments, Bharat Swipe (POS machine) for card acceptance, and small business financing are included among the services offered.

• Its revenue till 2021 is Rs. 700 crores (US$93 million).

• Apart from BharatPe, Ashneer Grover is the founder of postpe, 12% Club, & PAYBACK India.

Shark-2: Aman Gupta

• Aman Gupta is an Indian entrepreneur who is the Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of India’s top earwear audio brand, boAt.

• Education:

• Delhi University

• B Com, Honors (1998 – 2001)

• The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India

• Chartered Accountant, Accounting and Finance (1999 – 2002)

• Indian School of Business

• Masters of Business Administration, Finance and Strategy (2010 – 2011)

• Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management

• Masters of Business Administrations, General Management and Marketing as an exchange student at Kellogg (2011 – 2011)

• boAt is an Indian brand that offers top-notch earwear audio products across the nation. It has been awarded the World’s Top 5 Wearable Brands 2020 and 2021.

• The net revenue of boAt is Rs. 1531 crores ($206.07 million) FYI 2021.

Shark-3: Anupam Mittal

• Anupam Mittal is the Founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Shaadi.com and People Group.

• Education: 

• Boston University

• Masters in Business Administrations, Operations and Strategic Management (1994 – 1997)

• People Group has many businesses included under its company, likely Shaddi.com, which offers young individuals to find their perfect match; Makaan.com provides quality services to real estate holders and buyers.

• Anupam Mittal has been awarded numerous accolades. He has made it to one of India’s 50 Most Powerful People. The top icons of India’s Digital Ecosystem are considered among the top Angel Investors in the nation. Anupam Mittal is an avid investor and invests in Tech and Brand startups. He has invested in more than 200+ start-ups.

• The company has an overall revenue valuation to be $325 Million.

Shark-4: Ghazal Alagh 

• Ghazal Alagh is the Co-founder and Chief Mama (Chief Innovation Officer) of Honasa Consumer Pvt Ltd (MamaEarth).

• Education: 

• Panjab University

• Bachelor of Computer Applications, (2007 – 2010)

• School of Visual Arts

• Summer Intensive Course in Modern Art, Design and Applied Arts, (2013 – 2013)

• New York Academy of Arts

• Intensive Course in Figurative Art, Art Studies, General, (2013 – 2013)

• Mamaearth is an Indian e-commerce retailer brand that markets on selling multiple healthcare, skincare, and hair care products. The products are helpful for individuals of all age groups (based on the product brought and the age category mentioned).

• Ghazal Alagh entered the BW Businessworld 40 under 40 achievers list in 2019.

• Mamaearth joined the unicorn club in 2021 with an overall valuation of more than $1 billion.

Shark-5: Namita Thapar 

• Namita Thapar is the Executive Director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals

• Education:

• Savitribai Phule Pune University

• B. Com. 

• Chartered Accountancy from ICAI

• Chartered Accountancy

• Fuqua School of Business at Duke University

• Masters in Business Administrations

• Emcure Pharmaceuticals is an Indian multinational pharmaceuticals brand that has a vast global presence in developing, manufacturing and marketing a broad range of pharmaceutical products across the globe.

• Namita Thapar has been awarded the prestigious “40 under 40” awards by economic times, NextGen Leader recognition from the Barclays Hurun and even listed in the 2017 Women Ahead List by the Economic Times. Apart from all these, she has received the World Women Leadership Congress Super Achiever Award.

• Revenue: ₹60.92 billion (2021)

Shark-6: Peyush Bansal

• Peyush Bansal is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lenskart

• Education:

• McGill University in Canada

• B Tech, Electrical Engineering (2002 – 2006)

• Indian Institute of Management Bangalore

• MBEFB, Management (2008 – 2009)

• Lenskart is an Indian optical prescription eyewear retail chain that serves the mass with unique quality frames and lenses. It not only revolutionised the eyewear industry but gave a new life to several blinds with its amazing initiatives of healthcare checkups.

• Lenskart is one of the biggest eyewear stores in India, and it is a part of the unicorn club with an overall valuation of worth more than $1.5 billion.

• Peyush Bansal is also the co-founder of OJOS, Lenskart Vision Fund, Lenskart Plus, and John Jacobs.

Shark-7: Vineeta Singh 

• Vineeta Singh is the Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director, and Co-founder of SUGAR Cosmetics.

• Education:

• Indian Institute of Technology Madras

• B Tech, Electrical Engineering, (2001 – 2005)

• Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

• Masters in Business Administration, (2005 – 2007)

• SUGAR is a digital Cosmetics brand which is a cruelty-free Indian brand that manufactures its units across Germany, Italy, India, the USA, and Korea. SUGAR Cosmetics is inspired by bold, independent women who refuse to be stereotyped into assigned roles.

• Revenue: Rs. 153 crores ($21 million) in 2021.

• Veenita is also the Co-Founder of FAB BAG.

How did Shark Tank India help the Indian Entrepreneurs?

Shark Tank India was an amazing initiative to support the budding entrepreneurs to grow their business and get an opportunity to work with Indian business tachyons. It opened the doors for the people looking for investors. It even opened the doors for many to challenge and boost their knowledge and market value through various marketing strategies.

Let’s get a few takeaways from the Shark Tank India.

• Shark Tank India gave a massive platform for the people of India to come up and share their ideas. It gave the world a vision of the plethora of opportunities available around everything they surrounded.

• The platform made the start-up owners understand the importance of implementing and executing the idea more.

• Anupam: Team-Total Addressable Market-Timing

• People need to understand the value of their own business and make sure that they know all the pros and cons possible in their business.

• Many other investors got an excellent platform to invest and contribute to the start-up’s growth. The show brought the businesses to the limelight of several other leaders. 

• The show helped the youngsters to understand the importance of attitude, confidence, and education. Each factor contributes to getting the owner a better investor and an amazing team.

• The show gave a ray of hope to many individuals who’re willing to make a move and start their start-up journey. They need to negotiate their plans, implement, check, replan, and reimplement.

• One of the major lessons that the business owners got through the show is that they need to understand their value and be bold in taking decisions. It is always regarded as a good deal where you’ve decided your value.

Shark Tank India is not the end. Every person in the business will work on their plans—some with the help of investors and some with the help of the feedback received from the sharks. But it’s a new ray of hope for the people who got investors and even for the people who didn’t. Shark Tank India opened up the path for infinite possibilities.