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The fourth season of Shark Tank India began with three dramatic pitches, ranging from confrontational to empowering. Entrepreneur Karishma Kewalramani’s pitch for her inclusive beauty brand FAE Beauty fell in the latter category. Each of the five ‘sharks’ on the panel – Anupam Mittal, Aman Gupta, Namita Thapar, Vineeta Singh and Peyush Bansal – were impressed with Karishma’s tenacity and values as an entrepreneur. Aman even seemed to flirt with her, when she mentioned that she worked as a makeup artist on film and TV sets after returning from the US. “You didn’t work at Shark Tank?” he asked with a smile.
Karishma asked for Rs 1 crore in funding in exchange of 1% equity, valuing her company at Rs 100 crore. But, she revealed that because of previous rounds of funding, she had diluted her equity to 38%. Karishma’s dedication to keeping her company running at the cost of further dilution impressed Peyush. But Namita wanted to know how she would compete with foreign brands such as Estée Lauder, which is launching a more affordable range of products for the Indian market. “Pehle toh main darti nahi hoon (Firstly, I am not scared),” Karishma said, leaving the ‘sharks’ impressed. Vineeta, who operates a successful cosmetics brand herself, said that she is aware of Karishma’s company, and is impressed by their packaging and branding.
But she was the only ‘shark’ to not make her an offer, saying that it doesn’t make sense for her to invest in the company for such low equity. But that didn’t stop the remaining four ‘sharks’ from engaging in a bidding war. Aman and Namita joined hands, and offered Karishma Rs 1 crore for 3% equity, which Peyush matched. Anupam, on the other hand, offered Rs 1 crore in exchange of 3.3% equity. Karishma was torn, because all three offers were similar. But she countered by asking for Rs 1 crore in exchange of 1.3%, because she didn’t want to dilute herself further. Karishma said that four four years, she suffered immense losses, but things turned around last year, when she became profitable for the first time. She took FAE from registering losses as high as Rs 2.5 crore in one year to generating Rs 1.2 crore in profits.
Anupam offered her Rs 1.5 crore for 3%, and Namita and Aman countered by offering Karishma Rs 1 crore for 2%. After some further negotiations, Karishma agreed to Aman and Namita’s offer, and the deal was finalised at Rs 1 crore in exchange of 1.5% equity. In her post-pitch interview, Karishma spoke about the massive losses that she was bearing, and said that for the first time, she is in profit. This empowered her to stand up for what she felt she deserved.
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