Shark Tank 3: What happens once a deal is struck on screen? Anupam Mittal says…

Shark Tank India is no stranger to controversy, from funding allegations to claims that the contest is “scripted.” In previous seasons the judges have committed to more than $120 crores for the contestants and their start-ups. Some, however, insist they have yet to receive funding, despite striking an on-screen deal for the first two seasons. However, Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal reveals that there is more to the story.

Mint caught up with multi-season Shark when the show returned to the big screen (and smartphones) for a third season in January. The latest season features an expanded panel of 12 judges with Mittal, Aman Gupta, Amit Jain, Namita Thapar, Peyush Bansal and Vineeta Singh reprising their roles. The program has also put some new deal structures on the table, including royalties on sales.

In the ongoing season, several made-in-India brands struck a chord with the expanded panel of 12 judges.

What happens after an entrepreneur “closes” a deal on the air?

According to July 2023 data from PrivateCircle Research, around 40% of Season 1 deals were closed a year after the show aired. The seven judges had reportedly seen 28 deals come to fruition, with only Rs 17 million of what was initially promised. $40 million rupees will be invested until mid-July. However, the figures do not include debt. It is also pertinent to note that the data had been questioned by some of the judges.

Mittal explains that the execution process can take anywhere from a month to more than a year depending on “how prepared the company is” for financing. The Shaadi.com founder is believed to have invested around Rs 12 crore during the first two seasons of Shark Tank. .

“Our teams reach out to the founders and then we usually create a WhatsApp group. We start the diligence process and paperwork in parallel and connect with them to detect problems, if they have not met the conditions or if the claims are incorrect. And then we wait for them to complete the process. Some do, others never come back to us,” he adds.

Jaipur-based Zillionaire had taken an investment of $1 crore from Mittal: double his original ask $50 lakh – during season 2. However, the payment came around six to seven months later due to technical issues.

“Those guys hadn’t even formed a company. And the ROC website was down for three months. My team was helping them and trying to find other ways…going directly to the registration company…but for three months it was impossible to register a new company,” Shark recalls.

“90% of the time… if a deal isn’t reached after the initial commitment… it’s because the founder backed out because they think they got a better external valuation. Let’s say we commit to 20 deals and 10 come to fruition. Of the 10 that didn’t pass, at least seven or eight will be cases in which the founder backed out. And there will be two or three cases where the statements were not correct or the necessary conditions were not met,” explains Mittal.

Season 3 of Shark Tank, Mittal assures Mint, would show “real authenticity” with “strong founders and big investments.”

“As always, you know how much financing there is in winter, there is always summer in the tank, you will see many good and healthy investments,” he concludes.