Shark Tank’s take on Start-up and Tech
The start-up culture is currently building and altering the entrepreneurial fabric of the country built over the decades. The phrase “start-up culture” in itself evokes a lot of fun things like office peeps, post office parties, and other fun things. The latest to join and steal the party was Shark Tank India, a show that aired on Sony Entertainment Television in December 2021. Shark Tank India was widely loved by the Indian audiences considering the booming start-up culture in the country.
Tech-centric startups gained the special attention of Shark Peyush Bansal. Peyush Bansal is the co-founder and CEO of Lenskart and has expressed his love for tech-based startups on more than one occasion. He highlighted the need to invest in companies that serve purposes along with products and other services.
Shark Tank India featured seven entrepreneurs who invested in different start-ups based on the pitches, products, and businesses they wish to develop. Out of the seven, Ashneer Grover (MD & Co-founder BharatPe) and Peyush Bansal own tech-based companies.
Technology is an important part of start-ups as it may increase the rate of success from the very beginning. Technology helps business start-ups make money and produce solutions when they are in high demand. A lot of technology-based tools that have been widely used by upcoming start-ups include planning services, hosting programs, software checkout programs, different lines of communication tools, virtual vaults, electronic security systems, and much more. Other than these a few high-end tools like data security, HR management software programs, AI chatbots, mobiles and cloud computing, and much more have also been utilized.
Along with automation, customer experience is also a major part of tech-based start-ups. During the initial stage, most start-ups flourish through customer reviews and word of mouth. So, as a whole customer experience and automation, result in profits.
Shark Tank India also saw start-up ideas from food-based to tech-based among others, a lot of which were widely appreciated and invested in by the sharks. There were a lot of innovative startups that used tech to serve the purposes they were aiming for. A few of these are PNT Solutions, Thinkerbell Labs, Booz Scooters, and Loka.
PNT Solutions
PNT Solutions was founded by Pratik Nandan Tirodkar and Ashish P. Patil. It is a Mumbai-based robotics start-up that works on industrial projects based on AI, ML, ROS, and IoT along with customized robotics solutions. The most popular robot of the company is named ADO. It is an AI-powered fully automated humanoid robot that can perform autonomous navigation, facial recognition, and gestures like humans. At Shark Tank India, they asked for 50 lakhs for 4% equity and the deal was sealed with Peyush Bansal for 20 lakhs for 25% equity and 25 lakhs as debt. Their current prototype that was featured in Shark Tank India has been equipped to teach what robots can do in schools and colleges. It also helped in food delivery and isolation wards during Covid times. Ashneer did not invest in the business reasoning it looked more like a college project to him.
Thinkerbell Labs
This decade will define India’s position in the coming 50 years and we are on the right track, entering into the era of entrepreneurship in India. It would be remarkable progress for India’s development. Among numerous start-ups starting from level zero, there’s a company Thinkerbell Labs. They work for humanity and for a noble cause which is quite justified. Their initial project is to help specially-abled children with visual despair and lower that rate in India to increase the productivity of people around. The primary step being education, they’ve launched a device named “Annie”. “Annie” helps out in learning words. Understanding stories and concepts and apart from that, in-built voice support makes the child feel he/she has a companion around them. They raised 1.05 crore on their device for 3% equity.
Booz Scooters
Booz is an app-based electric scooter startup that is said to be the first such kind of two-wheeler in South Asia. According to Rutvij Dasadia, the founder of Booz, this app-based scooter provides one of a kind travelling experience at a sustainable price. The startup offers the renting service of its scooter at various locations including business parks, commercial parks, residential areas, industrial areas, education campuses, tourist spots, hotels, clubs, and resorts. The startup received 40 lakhs of funding for 50% equity from Vineeta Singh & Ashneer Grover.
Loka
LOKA has been tagged as “India’s first gamified Metaverse app” and is based in Bangalore. It was founded by Krishnan Sundararajan. The Metaverse gaming app is available for iOS and Android users. It uses apps like Amazon, Netflix, Deliveroo, and more to give the players a real-time real-world experience of real cities. The locations may be anywhere from Connaught Place, Delhi to Manhattan, New York. This game is similar to multiple games like the apps PUBG and Free Fire in which gamers search for real people and die, but in this game, people are not killed. The way the online gaming industry is growing, it is quite surprising that this industry is growing very fast in India. No one knew this industry before 2019, but after that, the growth in this gaming industry was very fast, due to this online battleground game. The start-up received an investment of 40 lakh for a 24% stake in the company by Aman Gupta, Peyush Bansal, and Anupam Mittal.
Shark Tank India has brought to light some of the top startups providing solutions to some of the major issues in India through the help of AI and robotics. The government is also planning to invest in such startups as a part of the digital India scheme.
