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Shark Tank India 3: Deepinder Goyal offers pitcher Rs 3.5 crore more than actual demand, gets rejected

Deepinder Goyal offered a pitcher more than what he asked for, but the start-up founder chose to walk away from the deal.

By: Entertainment Desk
New Delhi | February 10, 2024 07:44 PM IST

3 min read

Deepinder Goyal is one of the judges on Shark Tank India.

A recent episode of Shark Tank India saw a pitch by two entrepreneurs behind an interview hosting platform. The founders asked for Rs 1.5 crore in exchange of 1% equity, which valued their company at Rs 150 crore. They managed to impress all five sharks at first, but soon after the negotiations began, Namita Thapar bowed out of the discussions after rejecting their idea on “philosophical” grounds.

Deepinder Goyal was quite surprised to learn that his company Zomato was already a customer here. And since he was so impressed with the platform and could see the potential of this becoming a “global platform,” it looked like he was going to offer a lucrative deal. Calling him a “solid sales person,” Anupam Mittal was just as impressed with him. Aman Gupta, who loves to throw in a few movie references, called him ‘Rocket Singh’ and called him a great sales person.

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Next up, Aman offered Rs 1.5 crore for 2% equity in the company, valuing it at Rs 75 crore. Anupam also offered Rs 1.5 crore, but for 3%, valuing the company at Rs 50 crore. Deepinder threw his hat in the ring as he proposed a joint offer with Aman. They both offered Rs 5 crore, instead of Rs 1.5 crore, but for a solid 10% in the company. Deepinder proposed that the entrepreneur should raise his Series A funding in Shark Tank while he valued the company at 1/3rd of what the pitcher came in with.

The founders rejected the Rs 5 crore offer but Deepinder wished them luck anyway. “I am super proud of you,” he said. The negotiations started again and Aman Gupta was back in the game. Deepinder then advised the entrepreneurs to not indulge in ‘chindigiri’ and think about the future. Aman locked the deal at Rs 1.5 crore for 2%, valuing the company at Rs 75 crore.

Shark Tank India is currently in its third season. This is the first time that Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal has joined the show as a ‘shark’ investor. During one of his earlier appearances on the show, Deepinder was described as “soft Ashneer” by the fans. Ashneer Grover was a part of the show’s first season and was known for his not-so-polite attitude.

Deepinder previously described his time at Shark Tank as “something crazy”. He shared on twitter, “All growth comes from discomfort. I am here to learn, step outside my comfort zone, and add my two special cents to something crazy. This is turning out to be a weekend well spent outside of @zomato.” Ritesh Shah, Ronnie Screwvala, Azhar Iqubal have also joined the show this season.