Aman Gupta says Shark Tank India pitcher’s cake brand is ‘bakwaas’ after he inks deal with ‘dal badlu’ Namita Thapar

What is Awsum?

Found by Pranav Sharma, Awsum is a packaged cake brand with unique flavours. While it takes a healthier approach to baking cakes, the founder said none of the products include maida, palm oil, or sugar, and the cakes are completely eggless. Their cakes have real fruits in them, and jaggery and honey replace sugar. Cakes also have brahmi, ginseng, and ashwagandha for immunity. Pranav also shared how this is his second venture in the FMCG sector. Their first venture, called Paushtic, was launched in 2016, with an idea to revolutionize healthy snacking. They brought the concept of trail mix and quinoa puffs. When COVID happened, they had to shut it down.

Also Read: Shark Tank India 5 pitcher, berated by Anupam Mittal, says sales went up 2x, did one month’s revenue in a day

 

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When Ritesh asked why, he shifted the focus to cakes. Pranav revealed that he got the idea from seeing many millennials and GenZ’s take to baking during the lockdown. Aman Gupta asked if the founder was making a superfood, to which the founder said, while the consumers are not opting for healthy options, they are looking at something close to healthy.

Anupam also revealed, “We have met before, the product has evolved a lot. I remember the packaging, focus, and clarity in what the product stands for were missing back then.” Later, the founder shared that the total investment in the brand so far has been of Rs 40-45 lakhs, and they can make 12000 cakes per day. Pranav has done fundraising in 2022 and 2023 and raised Rs 1.6 crore in August 2025.

Talking about the revenue, the founder shared that on November 25, the revenue was Rs 2.1 crores, and their EBITDA  has been positive. Upon hearing this, Aman jokingly said, “tu ne toh royalty deal banwa di. (You just got this converted into a royalty deal.)” The founder further went on to add that, in 2024-25, they closed their revenue at Rs 4.9 crores and made a profit after tax of Rs 3 lakhs. In 25-26, they have done Rs 8.5 crores worth of business to date.

Namita Thapar also lauds his less-is-more strategy when the founder shares that they only have six variants for the product so far.

Aman Gupta calls the product’s packaging awful

Anupam Mittal questioned the founder over the amount he demanded and said, “From what I see, you will need more than Rs 1 crore. You could have asked for Rs 2 crores. Why did you just come with an ask of Rs 1 crore? I feel you are here to fix the valuation, not to solve your business problem.”

Namita and Ritesh also made an offer to the founder. They offered Rs 1 crore for 2.5 percent equity. Anupam also added, “Last time we couldn’t finalize this, I liked you a lot then, I like you a lot now, the product has improved. So I would like to offer Rs 2 crores for 5 percent.” When the founder shared that he wanted to keep the valuation at Rs 80 crores at the least, Anupam revised his offer to Rs 2 crores for 4 percent.

 

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Later, Aman also joined the negotiations. He started by criticizing the product, and said, “Aapki packaging bohot gandi hai, everything is so crammed, but the product is solid. Let’s change your game, I want to make you Awsome from Awful.” He later combined his offer with Anupam and offered Rs 4 crores for 8 percent.

Aman also asked the founder what his area of expertise was. When the founder quoted Ritesh that one has to be the first subject matter expert in everything, and said he has been deeply engrossed in the product, he said, “If you were so engrossed, then how did you watch Ritesh’s interview? Why did you waste your time? It would have been better if you had seen a branding video.”

Namita quickly jumped in to defend the founder and said, “He isn’t quoting you.” Later, Aman went on to call her ‘dal badlu’ and added, “deal uske saath kya karne lage…” In between this, Amit Jain opts out of the deal and says, “The brand is not fully made, it has major dependency on quick commerce, I found the marketing misleading in terms of trustworthiness, so I am out today.”

When the founder requested the Sharks to revise their offers, placing the valuation at Rs 75 crores, Ritesh shared a revised offer of Rs 1 crore for 1.33 percent. Aman Gupta quickly said, “Galti mat kar (Don’t make a mistake)”, Anupam Mittal added, “Tereko paise chahiye ke nahi (Do you want the money or not?). Why are you flipping so much? I am losing confidence in you. See how much skin we have in the game, till when will we be involved in this?”

Namita added, “We will give you time, will keep the cakes in Ritesh’s hotels. I am the brahmi ashwagandha queen.” Anupam quickly taunted her and said, “What has he kept in his hotel for the last 4 seasons?” Later, he revised his offer and matched it to what Namita and Ritesh had offered.

After the founder chose to close the deal with Ritesh and Namita, Aman went on to comment, “You know the aftertaste of your cake is very bad, bakwaas taste hai.”

Shark Tank India 5 airs on Sony TV and SonyLiv every Monday to Friday at 10 pm.