After being rejected by all five sharks (investors) on Shark Tank India, a city start-up miraculously received Rs 50 lakh funding during the show’s Wednesday night telecast.
All five sharks on the show initially refused to invest in the start-up, but in the final few minutes, shark Amit Jain agreed to invest in the company, claiming he wanted to invest in the company’s founders.
Shark Tank India, which had a successful first season, is currently in its second season. The show is aimed at young entrepreneurs looking to raise funds to expand their businesses.
In 2019, a city couple, Parimal Kalikar and Dhivya Subraju, launched Licksters, a popsicle and ice cream brand. “We watched the first season of Shark Tank India and decided to apply for the second season,” Dhivya explained. We made it to the final round after three screening rounds.”
Dhivya and her husband were asked to fill out detailed business forms and submit a video in the first two rounds. The third round of interviews took place in Bengaluru. The championship round was then taped in Mumbai.
The couple went on the show and pitched their company to the sharks. They had initially requested Rs 50 lakhs for 5% of their company, giving it a valuation of Rs 10 crore.
After hearing the couple, the sharks decided not to invest in the company one by one, but Parimal and Dhivya made a final pitch to Jain, asking with him to invest in them.
Jain was so impressed that he made an offer. He offered Rs 25 lakh for 5% equity and Rs 25 lakh in debt, which the entrepreneurs accepted. Jain’s deal valued the company at Rs 5 crore.
This was the second deal in this show for a Nagpur-based start-up. In the first season, two start-ups appeared, one of which won the deal. Following this, several city entrepreneurs applied for the second season.
