In an interview to India Today in 1986, J.R.D. Tata was asked about the stalled economic growth of India after Independence. Confessing his frustration over the economic stagnation crafted by Nehruvian socialist policies, he had famously quoted, ‘When I was young I was an angry young man: we were under foreign rule, people were oppressed. Now I’m an angry old man because of all the opportunities that have been missed.’ This paranoia about India’s promised future was shared by other business tycoons and investors of that time as well.
Some thirty-five years later, Economic Liberalization had happened with India opening up itself to the market. Despite its quizzical spelling, ‘Entrepreneurship’ was no longer a dirty word for a society deeply wired in socialist programming. And while you switch on your television sets, two middle-aged women Kalpana and Uma Jha from Darbhanga, Bihar are seen pitching for investment for their handmade-pickle venture.
Indeed, The show ‘Shark Tank India’ has caught quite a frenzy among the masses in no time – thanks to the booming startup culture fueled by the right policies in the country. But how did India manage to negotiate this change – with high acceptance for a reality investing show aired on prime time?
Aman Gupta, who started his company boAt in 2016 says, “When we started, India was changing and a revolution was happening. A new India was taking its place”. Set sail in 2016, ‘boAt’ today is a shorthand for a durable, ultra-fashionable and pocket-friendly audio products range. Aman Gupta and his co-founder Sameer Mehta have carved out a niche in the Indian market which was earlier dominated by Chinese and German brands. According to Gupta, Shark Tank (USA) has a played major role in realising his dreams and shaping him as an investor.
In 2021, Sony Entertainment Television bought rights of the Emmy-winning ABC series ‘Shark Tank’ with a view to start its own version ‘Shark Tank India’. The show first aired on television on December 16 and runs on weekdays from 9-10 PM on Sony TV. The format of the show is simple – Budding startup firms get to pitch their ideas for funding in front of a panel of angel investors or ‘Sharks’.
The Sharks who have committed total funding worth Rs. 41.68 crore to 67 qualified budding ventures happen to be the biggest names in the business scene today. The galaxy of investors ranges from Aman Gupta (co-founder boAt), Ashneer Grover (MD and co-founder of fintech firm BharatPe), Ghazal Alagh (co-founder, Mamaearth), Vineeta Singh (CEO & Co-founder of SUGAR Cosmetics) to Anupam Mittal (founder, Shaadi.com), Namita Thapar (Executive Director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals) and Peyush Bansal (Co-founder and CEO of Lenskart).
In a very short span of time since its release, Shark Tank has hit the right notes within the aspirational, hard-working masses who have a vision and stake in India’s future. What is uniquely fascinating to see, are the stories from the breadth of India taking centre stage to carve out their identity through entrepreneurial zeal. New ventures ranging from gadget startups to businesses in the food industry have struck awe-inspiring deals from the Sharks.
Peeschute, a venture committed to improving toilet hygiene is a company producing affordable unisex disposable urine Bags. Siddhant Tawarawala, the founder who hails from Jalna, Maharashtra has struck a deal with Aman Gupta for ₹75 lakhs against 6% Equity. Similarly, it was Skippi Pops an Ice Pops brand from Hyderabad which raised the highest ₹1 crore for 15% Equity with all five sharks investing. This also underlines the power of collaborations in the business arena.
The USP of the show has been in showcasing the potential of hidden innovation in India which is anchored when ventures like Annie – a braille learning device talk about their flair to give it back to society. Shark Vineeta Singh, a graduate from IIM-A, who left an investment banking job promising her one-crore salary, talks about the role vision plays in the process. “When I declined my job, it made it to the headlines in the papers. But with a different vision and a lot of time, I have made my headlines myself – with SUGAR cosmetics having a valuation of 500 crores.”
The proposition of the show enables the audience to see how deals are struck, how ideas are materialized through business, how networking empowers community building and the inventive solutions startups churn to solve problems of the society. Here, it is not about the success stories that are glorified, but the viewer is humbled by seeing the journey of promising business of tomorrow taking shape.
In a way, this empowers businesses from small-towns and especially women to carve out their identity through the capital. It was heart-warming to see the story of Rakhi – a millennial entrepreneur who parted ways with her home after criticism came when she co-founded EventBeep, a community network app for college campuses. Ashneer Grover, apart from offering the venture Rs. 30 lakhs against 2% equity, was interested in giving Rakhi Rs. 10 lakhs against a personal 0.5% equity share to secure her future.
Shark Anupam Mittal believes 2020-2030 is an ‘entrepreneurial decade’. It was also in 2021 when India added 33 new companies to its list of Unicorns. What led to the rise of unicorns (start-ups valued over $1 Billion or more) and a thriving ecosystem of growing startups was an undercurrent of entrepreneurial zeal wanting to be valued. This potential was tapped in 2014 when the Narendra Modi (with his experience in carving out market-driven growth in Gujarat) led government started the Start-Up India initiative.
A barrage of irrelevant colonial-era rules and socialist-era red-tapeism was cut, and ease-of-doing-business was actively worked upon. On a policy level, inventive schemes for new businesses were laid out in co-operation with individual ministries. Since then, a new generation of ‘wealth-creators’ sees a bright future for the Indian start-up scene. Shows like ‘Shark Tank India’ are a manifestation of this same Start-Up cult giving rise to this culture. It is where big dreams meet the biggest minds, and they together chart out a ‘new idea of India’.
