How the Sharks Benefited from Shark Tank India?

Shark Tank is one of the most famous reality shows. Originating in the west, it has become such a sensation that people are adopting the idea. Many are adopting the idea and making their own country versions of the show. Recently the show came to India in a never seen before avatar.

Last December, SonyLiv launched ‘Shark Tank India’ and what happened next was awe-striking. Viewers all over the country were glued to their screens to finish every episode of the first season ever. The show amassed amazing views and it was so vital that everyone seemed to be talking about Shark Tank India. A great achievement for the show and all the participating parties in the venture.

The show format is simple and easy. There are judges, who are all entrepreneurs in different fields. Who has disrupted one market or the other? Then there are participants or volunteers who are Indian and aspiring entrepreneurs. They pitch their ideas to sharks with the hope that they will like the idea and invest in the idea.

The persuasion of equity and capital makes up a whole episode. The show’s contestants made their pitches and many benefitted from the investments from sharks but what did sharks get? In this article, we will find out the possible benefits that were presented to sharks from Shark Tank India. Let us read on.

What is Shark Tank?
Everything About Shark Tank India
Benefits of Shark Tank India
How the Sharks Benefited from Shark Tank India?
The Aftereffects of Shark Tank India

What is Shark Tank?

Shark Tank is one of the most famous shows among startup enthusiasts. Not just people who are into entrepreneurship, but others too love watching pitchers pitch their ideas to big sharks (Established entrepreneurs).

The show took the popular path in America and was a very liked show. The show was made into a series of episodes. Each episode had some candidates who pitch their ideas to investors for raising capital. It initially premiered in August 2009 and since then has managed to amass a lot of views and attention.

The American counterpart was an adaptation of a Japanese show called, the Dragon’s Den. Originally called the Money Tigers in 2001. The show format involved entrepreneurs presenting their ideas to a panel of judges called sharks. Who then decides, communicates and persuades them to invest in those ideas.

Everything About Shark Tank India

Starting in December 2021, Shark Tank India was a first of its kind experiment in Indian television. The show format was almost the same as the original shark tank America. Aspiring optimistic entrepreneurs from India pitch their business models and present their workings to established entrepreneurs and investors. The panel of investors then decides after a lot of discussion about business, to invest money or reject their idea.

Each pitch begins with the participants asking for some amount of capital in return for a percentage of ownership in their business. The task that they make, sets up the valuation of their venture. The sharks try to negotiate the valuation to be in context with real numbers. Those metrics include numbers like revenue, previous deals, consumer rates and all sorts of expenses.

Valuation is one key concept that sets the belief that the judges or investors need to know whether the business or startup has the ability to stay afloat. The sharks need organisations that can be scaled and have an appeal to a large number of purchasers.

The judges try to figure out which businesses will be a good investment. They do that from negotiations and questions that they ask the participant entrepreneur. Judges are very particular about capital and numbers. This makes the show even more interesting. People love to watch them negotiate and persuade the participant for a good deal.

The judges of the first season were as follows,

1. Aman Gupta, The co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at boAt. BoAt is an earwear, audio products company.
2. Ashneer Grover, Former Co-founder and Managing director at BharatPe, the unified payments interface company.
3. Anupam Mittal, Founder, and Chief Executive Officer of Shaadi.com and People group. Shaadi.com is a popular matrimonial website.
4. Ghazal Alagh, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of MamaEarth, a wellness products company.
5. Namita Thapar, who is Executive director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals. She has expertise in the Pharma industry.
6. Peyush Bansal, Co-founder, and Chief Executive Officer of Lenskart, which is an eyeglasses company.
7. Vineeta Singh, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Sugar Cosmetics. This popular company deals in cosmetics.

All of these companies are startups that were small at one point in time. These founders have acted as great leaders which helped these startups to get to the place where they stand. There are revenues flowing like water and valuations that reach the sky.

Shark Tank India aimed to collect these established entrepreneurs in one place. These experienced judges then judge the participants in the show for valuations, equities, and capital. This was something that was never seen before in the Indian television industry. Shark Tank India changed that forever, as it was able to garner great reviews. It created a fan following of its own.

The series, Shark Tank India, was immensely popular among the youth. As we all know that India is a youthful nation and youth is known to be creative. This show showcased the same, we saw amazing, creative business ideas.

Deserving participants got the paychecks and we all got the kick that we want from a reality TV show. But what did the sharks get? This is the question that we are trying to tackle. Let us see what opportunities the sharks got.

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Benefits of Shark Tank India

The Shark Tank India has made quite a buzz around the whole country. SonyLiv has managed to make a multi-bagger series out of this show. Everyone was watching it and appreciating the participants and their will to change something in society.

Visibility

If I ask you how many of you knew Ashneer Grover even before he became a judge at Shark Tank? Or Aman? Or Vineeta? Chances are that you would not know their name and faces. Only a few people who are deep into startups would know their names.

After coming to this platform of shark tank, all the sharks got immense visibility or popularity that is hard to get in this short span of time. It's not that this is good for their character and personality and the work that they do but visibility helps in people recognising them at an instant.

With a leveraged position that all the sharks stand at. The visibility they gained gave them more power in their respective fields. More people know about them now. With this visibility, these sharks will be able to get recognised by a lot of future prospects and probabilities of profits. These benefits are not quite quick but will offer them a leveraged position in the future.

Investing Opportunity

Now, this was probably the best benefit to the sharks, no cap. This was as good a benefit to sharks, as it was a benefit to participants, if not more. All the sharks made investments in multiple startups with great potential.

All these sharks got more exposure for new startups from all over the country than probably any other investor in the country. This was the biggest benefit to the sharks. Here we will discuss how much each of the sharks invested during the show.

How the Sharks Benefited from Shark Tank India?

Viewers from all over the country got to know different startups but what about the sharks? What did they get?

Let us see what were the benefits to sharks of the Shark Tank.

Ashneer Grover

Starting off with the most rational and straightforward judge, Ashneer Grover. He was the co-founder of BharatPe, which is a digital payments platform. He has been in the headlines since the inception of the show, Shark Tank India mainly due to all the controversies involving him, the Board of BharatPe and Kotak Bank. All of it finally ended with his resignation, which came in on February 28, 2022.

Apart from the headlines, he has been the investor for companies like the Whole Truth, IndiaGold, OTO Capital, and the Front Row. In the first season of Shark Tank India, the shark has invested a sum total of 5.3 Crore Rupees. The investment that he made was a result of a total of 21 deals, which is a good number for an experienced investor like Ashneer.

Anupam Mittal

Anupam is another most loved judge of the show. He is the founder and the chief executive officer of a leading matrimonial website called Shaadi.com. Everyone liked the simple and straightforward attitude towards every pitch. He was not just the person behind Shaadi.com but he has built several successful ventures.

He has different interests and he has also produced two Bollywood movies. In the first season of the show, Shark Tank India, Anupam Mittal invested a sum total of 5.4 Crores to various startups which he found worthy. The investments that he made was a result of 24 deals that he negotiated on the premises of the show, Shark Tank India. He mentioned that he has always wanted to create opportunities for all the young entrepreneurs, as they will lay the first brick to the new India.

Namita Thapar

Another famous name from the show. Namita Thapar is one of the most successful women entrepreneurs in our country. She is the chief executive officer of Emcure Pharmaceuticals and recently became a judge at Shark Tank India. She is passionate about women in entrepreneurship, and she was also associated with different companies in the United States of America in various marketing and finance roles.

In the first season of Shark Tank India, this shark got an amazing opportunity to invest in various stage startups. She found potential in many startups and invested her capital in 25 deals. The sum total of the amount that she invested in startups was 10 crores. This is a good amount, even better than Ashneer and Anupam. She is an amazing investor with clear thoughts about her investment decisions.

Peyush Bansal

Peyush was another judge with a huge fan following. He is humble and keeps a simple attitude, but is sharp in intellect. His hard work and determination have led him to realise his dream of Lenskart and create value for society. The stage at which he is now is a remarkable achievement in itself and he is worthy of it too.

Now he helps other entrepreneurs realise their dreams. In the show, Shark Tank India, he got this chance of investing his money and helping other startups to go ahead in their journey.

He utilised the opportunity and invested his 8.2 crores in various startup deals that he found potential in. Among all the pitches and negotiations, the amount that he invested was a result of 27 deals which he found to be a good investing opportunity.

Vineeta Singh

Vineeta Singh, the co-founder and chief executive officer of SUGAR Cosmetics. She was one of the sharks in season 1 of Shark Tank India and had a blast of a season. After graduating from IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad, she got a decent offer for herself but declined the offer in order to go in the entrepreneurship direction.

As per the latest survey, Sugar cosmetics has been successful in creating a community of 5 million people. Her net worth stands at a whopping 300 crores. In the first season of Shark Tank India, this shark got the investment opportunity and she didn’t leave it.

She invested around 3 crores in various startups that had potential. A total of 15 deals were signed by this entrepreneur during the course of the first season of Shark Tank India. A true commemoration of statistics.

Aman Gupta

The meme guy of the Shark Tank India. This person is super chill and is equally sharp in his words. He is fun and does not shy away from saying what he thinks. Aman Gupta, The co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at boAt.

BoAt is an earwear, audio products company. He is the co-founder of boAt, which is the top earwear brand in India. on Shark Tank India, this shark got the opportunity of investing out his hard-earned money. Which will help the budding entrepreneurs with the fuel that they will be needing in their future.

This shark invested a total sum of seven and a half crores (7.5 crores). That amount of capital he invested was a result of 25 different deals on the show. He clearly knows the game.

Ghazal Alagh

She is not the most famous entrepreneur but the brand she has built really speaks for itself. Ghazal Alagh, the co-founder and chief executive officer of ‘Mama earth’. She is the mind behind this famous wellness brand. She got immense visibility because of the show and all of that she truly deserves.

In the first-ever season, she got the chance to be a shark in Shark Tank India and made deals in startups. Her estimated net worth stands at 148 crores in Indian Rupees. During the course of the show’s season One, the entrepreneur invested a sum total of 1.2 crores in various startups.

She made these investments in a total of 7 deals. She is sharp and simple as an entrepreneur. Her calculations and experience made her invest in good startups during the show.

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The Aftereffects of Shark Tank India

There were obviously immense ripple effects after the show. Every young Indian household consumed the content that SonyLiv created and got to learn something. In an immensely big country like ours, it is imperative that people know how to create wealth in the longer term.

This show, Shark Tank India, in a sense created hype for the same. This is India wants to create things in real life. This is India which wants to create value for society.

Words like Margin, Valuation and Equities made their way to a middle-class household with the help of the show. The show garnered enough attention which will definitely help the next wave of new-age entrepreneurs. The show clearly entails all the learnings and a guide of valuations which the judges beautifully explained. The judges made a lot of efforts to pack their knowledge into nuggets of wisdom that can be easily consumed.

The judges showed the importance of good ideas and the need for innovation. They showed us that the country and the society of every place need some innovative ideas that have some value to them. Ideas that solve some real problems of the world.

We were entertained and enlightened by the industry expertise of all the judges on the show. Which showed every entrepreneur a correct way of doing things. All of that information in a fun and real sense with that of the world.

The show format was fun too, sharks have to figure out new ways to find out which company was worth the investment. They have to negotiate the actual valuation and also, choose the investment amount.

Interestingly, the Sharks have invested a total of over Rs 32.5 crore on Shark Tank India in season one. This money of investors will be the capital for new-age entrepreneurs. This will help them as fuel in their journey to the whole world. India has always innovated its way ahead in the world and will continue to do that if it is provided with opportunities. Platforms like these support the mission and investors like sharks, always fuel the passions which drive the new age of India.

Conclusion

The entrance of the shark tank in India was an immense and huge achievement. The business world of the country benefited a lot as much as the middle class of the society. The show made many technical jargons related to the business world easy for normal households. Shark Tank India in a complete sense made the youth knowledgeable in the aptitude of the capital world.

In this sense, the show proved a lot beneficial to everyone watching it and everyone participating in it. The wisdom that the judges shared on stage, really went on to guide new entrepreneurs in their future crucial decisions. All this help for free? Not entirely!

The sharks aka the established entrepreneurs and trailblazers made their share of benefit on the show. They got the deserved visibility in the entire country and got some really cool investment opportunities to invest their money in. The capital that they gave out to the budding entrepreneurs, will help them realise their dream of creating value for society.

The sharks will be rewarded in terms of capital appreciation and the credit of supporting development in the country. Which is a win-win situation for everyone. These sorts of opportunities are rare and are known as Positive sum games, which are positive for either side. These judges stopped many losses and misfortunes just by guiding the pitchers on the platform of Shark Tank India. In the long term, they helped all the startups, even those startups which didn’t get funding.

FAQs

Which shark invested the most in Shark Tank India?

Aman Gupta has invested the most in Shark Tank India, which was estimated at Rs 9.35 crore in over 28 deals.

How much are the Sharks paid on Shark Tank India?

Each shark is paid differently, the payment ranged from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.

What is the concept of Shark Tank India?

The entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to the sharks and then sharks decide to invest in their startups or not.

What is equity in Shark Tank India?

The equity in Shark Tank India is referred to as the equity shares on which depend the percentage of the company owned by the founder or investor.

What was the Shark Tank India Season 1 Episode 15?

The Shark Tank India Season 1 Episode 15 was titled as "It's Time To Change".

How many pitches were heard in Shark Tank India Season 1?

There were 198 pitches heard in total in Shark Tank India Season 1.

Who are all sharks in Shark Tank India?

The judges are known as sharks in the business reality show, Shark Tank India. They are all CEOs, founders, and key executives of different businesses in India across domains. Peyush Bansal (Founder and CEO of Lenskart), Namita Thapar (CEO of Emcure Pharmaceuticals), Ashneer Grover (Founder and MD of BharatPe), Vineeta Singh (Co-founder and CEO of Sugar), Aman Gupta (Co-founder and CMO of Boat), Anupam Mittal (Founder of People Group), Ghazal Alagh (Co-founder of MamaEarth).