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‘Ugly’ ads and no clinical trials: Shark Tank pitchers get rejected despite Rs 51 cr revenue, Kunal Bahl says ‘pehle vishvas banao’

Shark Tank India 5: Even though the numbers presented by the entrepreneurs looked promising, the sharks took no time in pointing out that they were selling ayurvedic formulations without any clinical trial.

3 min readNew DelhiJan 20, 2026 03:12 PM IST

Amit Jain and Kunal Bahl gave some important suggestions to the entrepreneurs.

The latest season of Shark Tank India is running ahead full steam and has given the fans some memorable moments. In the eleventh episode of this Shark Tank India 5, the fans saw three entrepreneurs, Tanishk Pandey, Astha Jain, and Pawanjot Kaur, pitch two of their brands — Ayuvya and ImFresh — to the ‘sharks’. The panel was made up of Aman Gupta, Namita Thapar, Vineeta Singh, Kunal Bahl, and Ritesh Agarwal. The pitch started off on the right foot, and the young businessman impressed the ‘sharks’ with the economic achievements of their brand.

The three introduced themselves as Astha recited the story of how they all first met. She told the judges that she met Pawanjot while studying at Punjab Engineering College and that the two had wanted to create something of their own since the first day. Tanishk, the man behind the creative side of the company, came into the picture later, and Astha and he actually got married soon. The three of them revealed that they are looking for Rs 1 crore for 0.5% equity of their companies, Ayuvya and ImFresh. Both had a collective valuation of Rs 200 crore.

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While there are a lot of Ayurvedic brands in the market, Ayuvya’s revenue from FY 24-25 caught the attention of all the ‘sharks’. Astha revealed that the brand made over Rs 51.5 crore in the past year and is projected to make Rs 70 crore by the end of FY 25-26. The numbers definitely got everyone’s attention, but the ‘sharks’ soon raised some questions. Kunal was the first to point out that the company’s growth rate was slowing down in comparison to previous years. This led to more questions, such as the repeat rate of customers, which was a number that the three entrepreneurs were not very clear on.

Aman also critiqued the quality of the video advertisements that the company was running on social media platforms. Tanishk retorted that this decision was taken in line with the fact that ‘ugly ads’ are currently trending on social media. These are low-budget projects which are supposed to feel more authentic and less formulaic. The other shoe fell when the ‘sharks’ realised that none of the products that the young entrepreneurs were selling had gone through clinical trials.

Pawanjot argued that these products were made according to texts and practices that go back thousands of years, but the judges didn’t seem to be convinced. Kunal backed out of the deal and said that while they have achieved something impressive, they need to showcase better care for their customers. He said, “Pehle illaj nahi vishwas banao (Create trust before you manufacture cures). ” Ritesh made the same point, and Aman told the entrepreneurs that despite their valuation, they haven’t yet made it into a “brand”. The trio walked out without any deal.

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