Shark Tank India Season 2 is likely to see the investor-judges make larger-sized investments as they double the number of deals as compared to the inaugural season, said multiple investors featuring on the upcoming season of the business reality show.
The show will see more offers from investors being made in the range of Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore, up from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore last season. “The amount of money that we (judges) have put in is significantly higher than last year. Even the valuations sought by startups were on the higher side than the previous edition of the show,” said Anupam Mittal, founder of People Group, which runs Shaadi.com as well as Makaan.com.
The founders that pitched on the show were more mature this time, having sound knowledge of business metrics. As a result, there was less equity on offer despite a higher ask, said CarDekho Group’s co-founder Amit Jain, who will feature as a judge for the first time at Shark Tank India.
Jain, who looks at the founder first and then the idea before investing, backed startups that will either help him multiply his wealth or create an impact promoting entrepreneurship in India. “Startups pitching in the second season had far more refined ideas and a lot of them were already profitable,” he said.
The learnings from the first season, however, not only invited more mature founders but also improved the investment thesis of judges. For instance, Emcure Pharmaceuticals’ executive director Namita Thapar said that she was a sharper investor in the second season as she read up a lot on the startup ecosystem and met investors in between the two editions.
Shark Tank India is an adaption of Shark Tank, a globally recognized business reality format which lets entrepreneurs make pitches to the judges who, in turn, write cheques against company stakes.
The second edition will see the return of first season’s five judges – Mittal, Thapar, boAt’s co-founder Aman Gupta, Lenskart chief executive Peyush Bansal, and Sugar cosmetics’ co-founder Vineeta Singh. The two judges from the first season who won’t appear in the second edition are MamaEarth cofounder Ghazal Alagh and BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover.
In its second edition itself, the show is now comparable or might be even bigger to the US Shark Tank, said Mittal, adding that deal sizes happening here are similar to the American version of the show. “We’re at Shark Tank America’s scale, despite a stark difference in the purchase power parity between the US and India.”
Another interesting aspect that will be seen in the second season is that judges will go for more solo deals than co-investing with peers on the show. “Sharks are clearer this time on where they want to invest,” said Mittal.
Also, with a slight rejig in the investor panel, there are new dynamics and new chemistry between the judges to be looked out for. Thapar preferred co-investing with Gupta on the show as she believes he is easy and intellectually stimulating to work with.
Mittal, who likes to go for solo investments, looked at opportunities before co-investing with other sharks. If it’s a healthcare-focused deal, he prefers teaming up with Thapar and for women-marketing focussed brands, Singh is his go-to person. Similarly, for manufacturing-related investments, he believes Bansal can add more value.
The second season of Shark Tank India will be telecast on weekdays, beginning 2 January, 2023. Sony Pictures Networks India owns its broadcast rights.