Shark Tank India season 2: Here’s what Anupam Mittal said that made Namita Thapar respond with ‘Stereotype karna galat hai’

The sharks have displayed a lot of camaraderie with each other outside of the Shark Tank India. But inside the tank, the teeth come out, as the savvy businesspersons have found themselves at odds when it comes to several deals. Some of them have even gotten into arguments over them as well. Shaadi.com founder and CEO Anupam Mittal and Encure Pharmaceuticals’ executive director Namita Thapar found themselves at loggerheads on the latest episode of the show.

The latest episode of Shark Tank India featured the new age lifestyle jewellery brand Zillionaire, which mostly sells iced out jewellery in the form of pendants, rings, earrings, chains and customised pieces. Founders, 19 year old Aaditya and Raghav, came to the tank with an ask of Rs 50 lakhs for 3.3% equity in their company.

The duo talked about how they got the idea for the jewellery when they started discussing music during lockdown and were fascinated with the kind of jewellery rappers wore. The founders made pieces for themselves first, started an instagram page for their work and grew their company from there.

Upon questioning by the sharks, it was revealed that one of the founders’ father runs a fine jewellery business and that the manufacturing unit for the same was also used to make Zillionaire’s pieces as well. The sharks were impressed by the young men and the brand they managed to build, and Anupam appreciated how at such a young age they were able to make Rs 12 lakhs in annual revenue.

Namita declared herself out of the deal, and talked about how much she learnt from her father, a businessman himself, adding that such knowledge is hard to come by in business school and books.

When it was Anupam’s turn, he began with how there’s this perception that kids coming from wealthy families lack a certain hunger in them. Although he made sure to preface with, not including Namita, the businesswoman did not take too kindly to the remark, saying “Aise stereotype karna galat hai”.

Although Anupam defended himself, Namita went on to say that all the sharks, at one point, have hinted the same about her. Anupam responded by saying that he was asking the founders a question and it was his prerogative on how to ask it.

Soon the duo brought their focus back to Zillionaire, with a bit of help from the other sharks, and were back to friends in a little while, even blowing each other kisses jokingly.

Anupam made an offer to the founders, offering them an investment of Rs 1 crore for a 10% stake in their company.

Vineeta Singh , Aman Gupta and Peyush Bansal also made an offer. Saying they will bring different skills to the table, the trio offered Rs 50 lakhs for 10% equity. After some deliberation, the founders readily accepted Anupam’s offer, and welcomed him to their ‘bling club’.