Shark Tank India founder leaves everbody’s jaws on the floor with Rs 1,250 ask, but Anupam Mittal suspects ulterior motives: ‘You’re here for marketing’

Shark Tank India founder leaves everbody’s jaws on the floor with Rs 1,250 ask, but Anupam Mittal suspects ulterior motives: ‘You’re here for marketing’

A recent episode of Shark Tank India saw a pitch that had virality written all over it. Not only because one of the founders left each shark on the panel impressed by his confidence, passion and knowledge, but also because of the gimmick that he employed in getting his message across. Joined by his co-founder, Arpit Dhupar pitched his alternate packaging company to the sharks, and asked for just Rs 1,250 in funding in exchange of 1% equity in the company.

While everybody’s jaws were on the floor, Arpit said that what he really wants is 100 hours of the sharks’ time instead, and that the funding is mainly a formality to seal the deal. Arpit explained why he chose to go down the path of alternative solutions, and said that he has always wanted to democratise access to clean air. He said that polystyrene, the preferred packaging material for many sellers, has lower recyclability than even plastic, and that it takes 2000 years to degrade.

“How did you land on a Rs 100 crore valuation?” Vineeta Singh asked, after listening intently to the pitch and sampling the product. “How is the valuation Rs 100 crore?” Anupam Mittal asked her, and Vineeta replied, “Kaunse shark ke yahan 100 ghante are worth less than Rs 100 crore, tell me that?” The other sharks agreed. “Not bad bro,” Aman Gupta said.

Peyush Bansal wanted to know why the sharks have been deigned fortunate enough for Arpit to present them with this offer, and the founder listed all the benefits that he hopes to acquire from the five sharks. He said that he can match his material’s cost with paper, which Aman said was a ‘huge claim’. “I’ll make a bigger claim, in three to four years, we’ll be able to match thermocol costs as well.” This impressed Aman to no end, but just as he was getting ready to seal the deal, Anupam Mittal expressed some concerns.

“Why didn’t you just ask us for Rs 2 crore, instead of taking on debt from others?” he asked, suspecting some ulterior motives. Arpit said that he has already got a valuation of Rs 22 crore from a previous round of investments, and didn’t want to waste the sharks’ time. This drew a round of applause from Vineeta, Ritesh Agarwal and Aman. “Aap kamal ho yaar,” Vineeta said.

But once again, Anupam wasn’t sold. “I have a different opinion on this. I feel you’re stuck on that Rs 100 crore valuation. You could have very easily asked for Rs 2 crore for 10%. But you wanted to get the sharks, get publicity on the show… Let’s talk straight, I don’t like being vague.” Arpit said that as a counter, he will give Anupam a 20% discount at the next round of investment, and this perked Anupam up. He said that he is willing to give Rs 1 crore and claim his 20% discount at the next round. Anupam got up to shake hands with Arpit, but Aman interrupted them.

In the end, since everybody was interested in betting on Arpit – “He’s either a hero or a zero,” Aman said – they agreed to pitch in a total of 10 hours in the next three months, and claim a 20% discount at the next round. The remaining hours they said that they will fulfil once they’re satisfied with that the claims made by Arpit are true. Arpit agreed to the deal, as Aman remarked, “I’ve seen over 200 pitches on this show, but I’ve never seen anybody like you. You’re either confident or you’re lying, we’ll find out!”

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