Shark Tank India: Anupam Mittal wants to know how ‘sharky’ founder has bigger stake than partner who came up with original idea

Two founders pitched their unique toddler wear products on a recent episode of Shark Tank India, and received compliments from Vineeta Singh for their ‘earnestness’ and ‘sincerity’.

But despite her kind words for the two founders of A Toddler Thing, Vineeta bowed out of the deal after being out-bid by Amit Jain. The founders were asking for Rs 80 lakh funding in exchange for 2% equity, valuing their company at Rs 40 crore.

The two founders were quick to answer all the questions that the sharks had about their strategies and past. Vineeta said that they shut Amit up in one go with their response to his question, because otherwise he normally has dozens of follow-ups. The founders said that they wanted to tap into the niche market of muslin-based clothes for toddlers, and left the sharks impressed by the low price range of their products.

Narrating their stories, one founder said that she was the one who approached the other with the idea, and is currently serving as the COO of the company, while her co-founder is serving as the CEO. She said that she holds a 28% stake in the company, while he has a 52% stake. They also revealed that they held an angel round in 2023, valuing their company at Rs 2.1 crore.

But Anupam Mittal had a typically perceptive observation. “How did you manage to do such a sharky thing? She brought the idea to you, and somehow you have twice the holding in the company? Wow.” Both founders laughed nervously, while the original founder explained, “I couldn’t give a lot of capital. He invested in me, he invested in the idea, he invested in the brand…”

Namita Thapar was impressed with her response. But ultimately, she chose not to invest in them, because she felt that the brand wasn’t on the optimum growth path. Aman Gupta backed out because he wasn’t interested in this sector, but Vineeta and Anupam started conferring with each other.

In the meantime, however, Amit Jain made a competitive offer to the founders, and Vineeta and Anupam thought that their offer would never compete, so they backed out, and the founders accepted Amit’s deal without any negotiations.