Shark Tank India 2: How the first ever pitch of the season made Vineeta Singh call Aman Gupta a ‘genda fool’

Hoovu Flowers had an innovative product for the ‘Pooja’ market in the country.

Shark Tank India season 2 premiered with a bang indeed, with quite a ‘blossoming’ start to the new season indeed. Viewers’ favourite fab five of business, boAt CMO and co-founder Aman Gupta, Shaadi.com founder and CEO Anupam Mittal, Emcure Pharmaceuticals executive director Namita Thapar, Lenskart CEO and co-founder Peyush Bansal and SUGAR Cosmetics CEO and co-founder Vineeta Singh, returned to the tank to find more businesses worthy of their investments. The first episode itself saw the sharks fighting over quite a colourful business indeed.

The first pitch of the season came from Yeshoda and Rhea Karuturi, two sisters from Bangalore who are the founders of Hoovu Fresh, a company which sells domestic Indian flowers specifically for use in poojas. The sisters put up a compelling pitch, giving a rundown of what makes their business stand out from the normal flower sellers. The duo managed to find an innovative solution to extend the shelf life of the flowers. While normal flowers wilt after 2-3 days, Hoovu Fresh flowers had a shelf life of almost 15 days.

The sharks were more than a little surprised to hear the duo’s offer- 1% equity in their company for an investment of Rs 80 lakhs. The judges were incredibly impressed with the sisters’ knowledge, sales and their marketing channels.

Vineeta and Namita made them an offer of Rs 40 lakhs for 4% equity in their business, as well as Rs 40 lakhs in debt with an interest rate of 12%. Namita told the sisters that this was based on a valuation of Rs 10 crores of the company. The sharks were further surprised to learn that the sisters already had other investors, and had valued their company at Rs 50 crores. Aman, as witty as ever, joked how the sisters felt about ‘these fools’, referring to Vineeta and Namita. This led Vineeta to remark “Listen Aman, thum genda phool nahi, genda fool hain”.

In the end, Hoovu Flowers walked away with an offer from Aman and Peyush, who offered them Rs 1 crore for 2% of equity.

New episodes of Shark Tank India season 2 premiere on Sony TV and SonyLIV every Monday to Friday at 10 PM.

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