India is slowly becoming a place where young and determined entrepreneurs with milestone ideas can actually make a place for themselves, with the number of investors lining up to take a chance with unique business ideas. Shark Tank India for instance has been receiving a lot of attention as a business reality show which provides stellar opportunities for young and talented entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas to some of the leading tech moguls in the country, and perhaps attain an investment from a few or all of them. If their business idea manages to strike a chord with the judges, then they can attain an investment for their startups in exchange for equity.
Quite naturally, it attracted a number of aspiring entrepreneurs from different age groups who were eager to pitch their business ideas. While some of them hit the jackpot with some or all of the judges investing in their startups, others had to leave empty-handed. The first season of the show came to an end last week. Here is a list of the investments made by the seven judges. Read along to know which shark made the highest investment in the show.
The What and Why
It is not every day that you get a platform to pitch your business idea with a very high chance of getting an established entrepreneur to invest. Thus the popularity of Shark Tank India was guaranteed from the beginning. It was further enhanced by the stellar list of judges.
1. Ashneer Grover, Managing Director and Co-founder of BharatPe
2. Peyush Bansal, Co-founder and CEO of Lenskart
3. Aman Gupta, Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of boAt
4. Anupam Mittal, Founder and CEO of Shaadi.com and People Group
5. Namita Thapar, Executive Director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals
6. Vineeta Singh, CEO, and co-founder of SUGAR Cosmetics
7. Ghazal Alagh, Co-founder and Chief Mama of MamaEarth
Out of the 117 business ideas presented in the show, a total of 67 managed to impress the judges. Let us take a look at who invested the most.
1. Aman Gupta
The Co-founder and CEO of boAt didn’t shy away from giving a chance to young and spirited entrepreneurs. Not so surprisingly he is the one who made the highest investment in the show. He invested a total of Rs. 9.358 crores in 27 deals. He had mentioned quite a number of times that he is all for supporting young entrepreneurs and giving them an opportunity to make a place for themselves.
2. Peyush Bansal
The second in line to make the highest investment in the show was Peyush Bansal, the CEO of Lenskart. He made quite a number of investments despite the fact that he was absent from the show during the initial weeks. He made investments worth Rs. 8.297 crores in a total of 27 deals. In addition to this, Bansal also managed to win the hearts of people on the show becoming everyone’s favorite shark.
3. Namitha Thapar
The Executive director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals made investments worth Rs. 6.383 crores in 22 deals, thereby becoming the shark to make the third-highest investment. Thapar had difficulty relating to a number of deals since she is from health background. This also became a reason for a number of memes.
4. Ashneer Grover
During the course of the show, Ashneer Grover came under public scrutiny due to a chain of controversies related to BharatPe. However, that did not stop him from making investments worth Rs. 5.383 crores. He invested in a total of 22 deals.
5. Anupam Mittal
The CEO and Founder of Shaadi.com who had quite a reputation for the “gyaan” in the show was the only shark who was present in all episodes of the show. He found 24 deals that are investment-worthy and made a total investment worth Rs.5.338 crores in these deals.
6. Vineeta Singh
Vineeta Singh found five deals that were interesting and investable. She made total investments worth Rs. 3.042 crores. The founder and CEO of SUGAR cosmetics invested mostly in the deals of woman entrepreneurs.
7. Ghazal Alagh
Seems like the Co-founder of Mama Earth is rather hard to please. She is the shark who made the least amount of investment in the show. She invested a total of Rs. 1.2 crores in 7 deals which she found interesting.