‘Mera business main naam nahi aaega’: Aman Gupta’s condition before signing Rs 2 cr deal with Shark Tank India pitcher

What is Awayddings?

Awayddings is a brand for affordable destination weddings. It was the brainchild of Pune’s Ashish Godghate, who partnered with Goa’s Vijay Kumar in 2021 to kickstart this brand. Ashish, who initially worked with OYO’s Weddingz.In, was living in Goa when he met Vijay. A casual exchange of ideas between them led to the beginning of Awayddings after Vijay offered to invest Rs 40 lakhs in the business.  Bringing this brand to Shark Tank India, with a vision to scale, Ashish and Vijay asked for an investment of Rs 2 crores in return for 5 percent equity, placing their company’s valuation at Rs 40 crores.

Also Read: Shark Tank India’s Amit Jain calls out Balika Vadhu actress and co-founder for ‘lack of transperancy’, Anupam Mittal says, ‘Do some soul searching’

 

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While their baaraat-like entry into the tank cheered up the Sharks, they soon also spotted the technical challenges that would come with the project. During the pitch, the founders revealed that both take a Rs 1.5 lakh salary each. They further went on to share that, in 2023, Kesari Tours invested Rs 1.23 crores for 50 percent equity. learning about the equity split, a shocked Aman Gupta asked, “You’ll give 50 percent of your company to them for Rs 1.5 crores?” Anupam added, “Paise ke saath saath unhone identity bhi leli. (They took away your identity along with the money).” The founders later said they restructured the equity division from 50-50 to 75-25 because they got pushback from other investors.

Sharing details about their revenue, founders say, in 2024-25, they made a revenue of Rs 1.95 crores, with 10-12 percent EBITDA. In 2025-26, year-to-date revenue was Rs 1.17 crores, and they projected to make Rs 3.6 crore revenue.

Founders revealed their last wedding was called off after the bride and groom had issues

Pointing out several operational challenges with these kinds of businesses, Anupam Mittal jokingly asked the founders what they do if they don’t get paid after the wedding. ‘Kya baaraat ko gate par rok lete ho?’ Anupam asked. Responding to this, Vijay shared that twice or thrice they faced issues with payments. Once during a wedding, they switched off the light in the sangeet function until payment was cleared. Later, Namita asked if any of the weddings organised by them was canceled? Vijay said their last wedding got canceled after there was an issue between the bride and groom.

 

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Later, Anupam questioned the founder, “In that case, do you refund the advance?” Aman quickly questioned Anupam, “Do you give a refund if someone’s wedding doesn’t materialize through Shaadi.com?” Anupam says, “We never take guarantees.” Anupam also went on to point out how this industry has a lot of leakage in terms of profitability. He reveals that they had thought about adding this service to Shaadi.com, but scalability is a problem. “OYO ne haath pair jodhkar exit kar liya from weddingz.in because it’s a thankless job, it’s difficult to standardize,” Anupam said, stating that one puts in the hard work and the other walks away with the profit.

‘Mera naam nahi aaega,’ Aman Gupta makes a conditional offer

Citing several problems in terms of scaling, all Sharks except for Aman opted out of the deal. Kunal Bahl said, “We have also launched city by city, and it wasn’t easy. The complexity is 10x, it takes lots of physical effort, and it will also take a lot of time to expand, so this business is not for me to invest in today. I am out.” Namita Thapar also added, “I agree with Kunal, there is too much ‘khit-pit’ in this. As you scale, many weddings in different cities might come on the same date, so you’ll have to create multiple versions of yourself. I am not getting that confident in scale, so today I am out.”

Mohit Yadav gave his inputs and shared, “Category is very interesting, people want to go beyond traditional, challenge is scale and operations, it’s a very ops-heavy business. It’s too early now, so I am out.” Anupam Mittal also opted out and said, “One thing is clear, based on my experience, you cannot make this business through VC money. But it can be good for you. Once you narrow your focus, you can start dominating the market. It’s a great business for you, but not for me.”

 

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Before making an offer, Aman recalled a deal he had signed in season one or two and said, “If someone’s maid ran away, I would get an email. Yahan kisi ki towel nahi aayi woh toh hamari baja dega.” He went on to add, “A lot of times, VCs break into investible businesses. I am not thinking like a VC, but like a consumer. But before giving an offer, I have a condition: Mera naam nahi aana chahiye isme (my name shouldn’t come up in this). If someone doesn’t get their towels, I shouldn’t get a WhatsApp. Mera business main naam nahi aaega.”

Aman Gupta offered Rs 1 crore for 10 percent equity and Rs 1 crore debt at 10 percent for 2 years. As the deal got locked, the former BoAt CMO danced on the beats of dhol and said, “Hum shaadi mein drones ke saath jaaenge.” Later, Anupam made him sit on a dhol,  as Namita said, “Begaani shaadi mein Aman deewana.”