Hyderabad-based startups rocking Shark Tank- The New Indian Express

By Specific Information Service

HYDERABAD:  The Indian enterprise actuality TV collection, the primary season of which was aired from December 20, 2021 to February 4, 2022 on Sony Leisure Tv India, has acquired individuals of all ages hooked to their screens. It has impressed entrepreneurs to assume large. Shreya Veronica compiles experiences of Hyderabad start-ups that made it to the units of the present

‘We really feel like mini-celebrities’
Ravi & Anuja Kabra (Skippi Ice Pops)
Banjara Hills-based Skippi Premium Ice Pops is India’s first ice-pops model. Ravi Kabra, co-founder and CEO; and Anuja Kabra co-founder and COO; share that to provide high-quality merchandise which can be clear, inexperienced and wholesome, they labored in the direction of bringing down the consumption of synthetic flavours and hues to zero. Sharing their expertise about how they ended up being on the present, they are saying,

“We utilized for Shark Tank in early August final yr and there have been about four-five rounds that we needed to undergo earlier than we may very well be finalised for the shoot in Mumbai. As soon as we had been on the units, issues modified for us. It was fairly thrilling and terrifying on the identical time — as a result of a whole lot of start-ups walked away dejected. From the 66,000 functions that got here in, 187 acquired short-listed and solely 60 of us acquired funded. So, the success charge was solely 0.1 per cent.” 

They had been the primary model on Shark Tank India to have achieved funding from all of the 5 sharks on the panel. Ravi says, “Actually, Peyush Bansal (the founder-CEO of Lenskart), who wasn’t on the panel, determined to put money into us after just a few days. As we speak, Skippi Ice Pops is manufactured and distributed throughout each outlet in liquid format. Individuals now not must have a freezer to promote or retailer these. We promote our ice-pops in liquid type, individuals should purchase them, freeze and revel in.”

He says that they really feel like mini-celebrities. “Every time we stroll right into a restaurant, are at any public place and even at our workplace, individuals stroll as much as us and wish to click on footage with us. We now have achieved one thing phenomenal, I’d wish to consider so.”

A game-changing expertise 
Ishmail Badri & Tasneem (Guardian Gears)
Ishmail Badri and his spouse Tasneem, founders of the bike accent start-up Guardian Gears in Secunderabad, share that merely that includes on the present has turned out to be a game-changing expertise for them. “I’ve been watching Shark Tank USA since its first season. Final yr, once I heard the present was coming to India, I made a decision to register. Through the first lockdown, I noticed a contestant on Shark Tank Australia making an entry on his Royal Enfield. I dreamt of doing the identical. I registered in February, in August we acquired a name for the audition and shot in November. The expertise was wonderful and it was a studying curve for us,” Ishmail tells CE. 

He provides that Vineeta Singh, the founder and CEO of Sugar Cosmetics, was his favorite shark. “Aman (Aman Gupta, co-founder and advertising director of headset firm Boat) was nice too. After the present acquired aired, our telephones wouldn’t cease ringing. We had individuals from overseas calling us up about our merchandise. Inside simply days, the tables have turned — earlier it was us who would name individuals up and now it’s the opposite manner spherical,” he says. 

That includes on such a giant platform has come as an incredible supply of validation for Guardian Gears. “When moving into the present, we by no means anticipated any of this. Of over 62,000 candidates, 800-1,000 firms had been known as for auditions and a few 150 had been featured on the present,” Ishmail says.

Searching for funding of Rs 5 
CoCoFit made essentially the most humble impression on the present. Searching for an funding of solely Rs 5 from every shark, its founders left no stone unturned to make their time on the present worthwhile. Shashi Kanth, the founder, introduces us to his enterprise. “Merely put, coconut meets health right here. We make and promote near 135 merchandise which can be manufactured from coconut and its by-products. From coolers and slushes to shakes and ice lotions, we have now all of them.” 

On how they landed on the present, he shares, “After we got here throughout a notification of Shark Tank India, we utilized for it and acquired to know that we had been chosen throughout the preliminary screening. We then acquired by phase-two and at last the audition. We had been already doing brisk enterprise, and now, Shark Tank has helped us get extra traders. Fairly than moving into negotiations, we determined to present it away free of charge. It was like us shopping for three sharks. Based mostly on the traction we obtained, we had near 2,800 franchise requests, that’s large!”