New Delhi: The battle for pitches was quite evident in the latest episode of ‘Shark Tank India Season 2′. One of the highlights of the episode was the third pitch by a company whose founders Saurabh Agarwal and Akshay Agarwal sell products that support protective farming, ensure water consumption, and a decrease in use of fertilizer and pesticides by 50%; thereby also increasing the yield and farmers’ income by 50-100%.
The company asked for Rs. 1 crores for 1% equity and Namita Thapar showed special interest in their pitch considering her own mother has a farm and takes a keen interest in farming. The two founders also impressed the sharks with their products and their business model. When Peyush Bansal asked them about plastic films, the duo told him that they bought back the mulching film to recycle it.
Their pitch impressed shark Namita Thapar to an extent that she made an offer which was open to negotiation. She kept some amount in debt on which Anupam Mittal very casually remarked, “Kya debt le rahe ho? Mat lo” Namita interrupted, “Why do you have to comment? Why do you have to poke your nose? He thinks he will comment and I will stay quiet. I won’t, you stay quiet.” This left the other sharks laughing.
Amit Jain of CarDekho group also commented,“Kaisi Shark ho dolphin ban rahi ho.” To this, Namita replied, “I am becoming a dolphin in this because it is for a good cause.” Later, Peyush also joined Namita and they collectively offered Rs. 50 lakh for 1 % equity an Rs. 50 lakh for 10% debt which was accepted by the partners.
Another highlight of the show was during the first pitch by the founders of a Pseudonymous social networking app that helps in creating anonymous group chats with end-to-end data encryption. Their founders were grilled by Anupam Mittal as one of them, Abhishek Asthana had once trolled the show last year. When the founder said it was all in humour, Aman Gupta jokes, “No it wasn’t. There is a saying, ‘Every dog has its day and aaj toh Doberman hum hain.”
Their valuation of Rs. 600 crores also shocked all the sharks. After discussing the business model, Anupam Mittal told them , “You have come here for marketing because their valuation is a ‘joke’. Namita Thapar added, “You need a reality check about your value proposition. It’s a big misconception in your head. And your answer is hum naye hai.” Amit also remarked on the valuation saying, ‘zameen pe aiye’.
Later Aman Gupta and Peyush Bansal made an offer at a valuation of Rs. 112 crores which was of Rs. 60 lakh for 0.54% equity and Rs. 60 lakh at 12% debt.
Shark Tank India Season 2 streams from Monday to Friday at 10:00 PM on Sony LIV.