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Entrepreneurs Ashneer Grover and Anupam Mittal, who appeared together on the first season of Shark Tank India as judges, appear to have a thorny relationship. Not only did they often butt heads on the show, but they have occasionally made remarks about each other in the years since Ashneer departed. Anupam remains a part of the reality series, which is set to return with a new season soon. Ashneer, on the other hand, is now balancing his businesses with a social media career. He appeared at a recent panel discussion, where he seemed to take another dig at Anupam.
Asked to recall the weirdest thing that he did to build his brand at the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey, Ashneer said, “I once went to Anupam Mittal to raise money. He would make me go around in circles and not give me a single penny. He still doesn’t give anybody anything. He only gives ‘gyaan’, not money. I would wait for him at the cafe under his office, where there was a dosa guy.”
Ashneer continued, “I gave him a QR code, and that became my biggest achievement while trying to meet Anupam Mittal. And whenever that dosa guy’s QR would stop working, he’d directly call me. He was probably one of the first 10 people to have one of our QR codes.” Ashneer was a co-founder of the payment app BharatPe.
He appeared as a ‘shark’ on the first season of Shark Tank India, which brought him immense fame. He declined to return for the subsequent seasons, and said publicly that he ‘dominated‘ the first season, and implied that the show could no longer ‘afford’ him. Recently, in an interview with Mashable India, Anupam was shown a picture of the season one roster of ‘sharks’, which prompted him to make a remark that might have been about Ashneer. “Oh, this is from KBC. I know this photo is from Season 1 because some of the sharks aren’t with us. May their soul rest in peace,” he said.
At a college fest earlier this year, Ashneer took another dig at Anupam and the remaining ‘sharks’. He said, “Mr Mittal is getting on in age. Students touch his feet when they meet him, that’s how old he is. And if Mr Mittal has said that the angry element of season one left, it’s a fact. He hasn’t said anything wrong. The rest of them are all lifeless, aren’t they? All you need to do is look at the TRPs of the first season, and then compare them to the TRPs of season two and season three. I’d like to tell Mr Mittal one more thing. The man who left after season one was the GOAT, the rest of you are still auditioning to become sharks.”
About trying to raise money from Anupam, Asheer had said on Raj Shamani’s podcast, “I knew Anupam from before. I’d once tried to raise money for BharatPe from him. I got the money from elsewhere, so I never ended up taking his money. In fact, I had made a pitch to him, not once but twice.”
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