Shark Tank India 2: Social media born startups which made their mark in the tank

With the number of digital and technological innovations that have taken the world by storm over the past couple of years, the up and coming entrepreneurs in the country now find themselves with a number of powerful tools at their disposal, one among them being social media. Even the Shark Tank India stage witnessed a number of entrepreneurs who managed to make the best use of social media platforms to build their businesses. A number of social media savvy entrepreneurs wowed the judges with the way they used the platforms to build their brand, and sometimes even communities, by which they were also able to make a marked difference to their sales as well.

Here are a few memorable companies who made the best use of social media, particularly Instagram, to help their business reach new heights.

Zillionaire

Aaditya and Raghav came to the tank and brought on the bling, with their ‘iced’ jewellery brand, Zillionaire, which offered a range of silver and zirconia. Even before making their way into the tank, the young entrepreneurs had quite a fan following for their jewellery, which had been modelled by a number of well known celebrities including Ranveer Singh, Ananya Panday, Janhvi Kapoor, Malaika Arora, Sonakshi Sinha, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Yami Gautam, Karan Johar, Allu Arjun, Kangana Ranaut, Aryan Khan,Vaani Kapoor and Bigg Boss 16 winner and rapper MC Stan. they had gotten their start by selling their jewellery on Instagram, and their Instagram account now boasts of more than 85,000 followers. The duo walked away with a deal from Anupam Mittal, who offered them Rs 1 crore for 10% equity.

Girgit

With a range of fun, colour changing apparel and products, the first of its kind in the country, Girgit definitely were one of the more memorable pitches in the tank. The founders Binoy and Pooja Bajaj, left the tank after striking a deal with Namita Thapar, who offered them Rs 20 lakhs for 20% equity. The page of the business on Instagram has raked up more than 13,500 followers.

House of Chikankari

House of Chikankari took to the tank to shine the spotlight on the artisanal garments that the country can proudly call its own. The business, started by Akriti Rawal and her mother Poonam, have a whopping 240,000 followers on their Instagram profile. The duo walked away from the tank after bagging a deal with Peyush Bansal and Aman Gupta. In conversation with OTTplay, the founders had revealed “We’re a brand that has focused on the Instagram community from the start. It really depends on how the brand’s stake on Instagram is. It was an Instagram-only brand and we built from that”.

Birds of Paradyes

India’s first semi-permanent hair colour brand, Birds of Paradyes, certainly put on quite a vibrant display of their products when they made their way onto shark tank. Their Instagram page, which has amassed almost 131,000 followers, does a great job at displaying the dazzling range of hair colours they have. The founders of the brand, Yushika Jolly and Siddharth Raghuvanshi, walked away from the tank after securing a deal from Aman Gupta and Vineeta Singh.

Hoovu Fresh

Hoovu Fresh sought to marry tradition with technology, by offering an innovative way to make sure that the shelf life of flowers, which are used for Poojas in the country, lasts up to 15 days. The Instagram page of Hoovu Fresh boats of more than 20,000 followers. The founders struck a deal with Peyush Bansal and Aman Gupta.