A report by the private market intelligence platform, PrivateCircle Research reveals that seven sharks from the first season of the entrepreneurship-driven show Shark Tank India have only honored 27 out of their 65 investment commitments.
The firm has analyzed the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings made by the Shark Tank companies to arrive at these findings. The data is updated as of July 12, 2023. Season 1 sharks included Ashneer Grover, Peyush Bansal, Anupam Mittal, Aman Gupta, Ghazal Alagh, Vineeta Singh, and Namita Thapar.
Among the seven sharks, Namita Thapar fulfilled the maximum percentage (59 per cent) of investment commitments. In Season 1, she committed to investing in 22 companies, out of which 13 companies have made investment filings till July 12, 2023. On the other hand, Anupam had the lowest investment percentage of 29 per cent. He invested in 7 out of 24 committed deals.
In terms of value, Sharks committed to investing a total of Rs 40 crore in 65 companies during the Season one telecast. Out of this, a total of Rs 17 crores has been invested across 27 start-ups till July 12, 2023. Individually, Thapar invested the highest amount of Rs 7 crore whereas Ghazal Alagh made the lowest investment of Rs 40 lakh.
Commenting on the analysis, Sumanjan Kumar, Lead Financial Analyst at PrivateCircle said, “Our findings show that some deals committed on the show may have fallen through because of concerns in company due diligence. Also, some start-ups seem to have passed on the Shark Tank deal to raise funding at higher valuations from other investors.”
The co-founder of the Indian fintech firm BharatPe, and the former shark in the show, Ashneer Grover denied the claims made by the report. Taking the issue to Twitter, Grover wrote that he had invested Rs 2.95 crore and this has made him the second-highest deployer.
I, Ashneer Grover, invested ₹2.95 crores | 11 deals in Shark Tank Season 1.
— Ashneer Grover (@Ashneer_Grover) July 19, 2023
This makes me second highest deployer, only after @namitathapar who was highest both in terms of absolute and % closure. No surprises - Namita is a great pay master ! Both Namita and I are the top 2 in… pic.twitter.com/Ot16kHOrpc
