From Shark Tank India Rejection to Success

After getting rejected on air, some Shark Tank brands gave the sharks major regret with their success story!

Securing funds can give startups major validation. 
But hey, rejection is not the end of the road.
These Shark Tank India startups grew massively even after rejection!

Zypp Electric 

India's leading Tech-enabled EV-as-a-service platform. 
They provide fleet management services for last mile delivery. 
Their partners include BigBasket, Amazon, BlinkIt, Rapido, and Swiggy. 
Zypp Electric's unit economics (as per Shank tank S1 episode):
Revenue/delivery charged from partners: Rs.40
Cost: Rs.30
Profit: Rs.10
But they couldn't raise funds from the sharks. Why?
Major reasons why sharks opted out:

• Negative 30% EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization)
• A very high valuation of Rs. 220 crore
• Multiple players in the market could put pressure on Zypp Electric's margins.
• Logistics business would be commoditised soon and D2C in EV scooters is a red ocean (high competition).

All this wasn't going to deter Zypp Electric. 
In Feb 2023, Zypp Electric closed a Series-B funding round of $25mn (~ Rs. 207 crores) led by Gogoro, which valued the startup at ~$156 mn (~ Rs. 1300 crores).

Zypping their way to success unlike the sharks’ predictions? 

Another rejection: Theka Coffee

Started by Bhupinder Madaan, Theka Coffee serves freshly brewed 100% Arabic coffee (among the most premium types of coffee) in a beer bottle for Rs 100. 
The ask was Rs. 50 lakhs for 10% equity.
Valuation: Just Rs. 5 crores. 
However, he did not get any offer from the sharks. 
Major reasons for rejection:

• Beverage distribution is a tough job to crack (majorly due to shelf life issues). No differentiated approach was taken to tackle this problem.
• Central distribution and automation required before it could become an investable business. 
• Scalability was a challenge. 

Theka Coffee might not have received funding from the sharks.
But, after Shark Tank, Theka Coffee secured Rs. 2.5 Crore in funding from Dubai-based VC Zenith Multi Trading. 
Valuation: Rs. 100 crore!
Yes. If any shark would have invested at that time, they could have made 20X in less than a year!.
Theka Coffee was also approached by Reliance Retail for a business partnership.

It may be too soon to hail these brands as a definite success. 
But these stories hold some lessons:

• Don't fall for halo effect: Don't let the rejections of authoritative figures dissuade you from shooting for the stars.
• Don't lose conviction: Where one door closes, several others open. Work on constructive criticism, but don't let it shatter your confidence. 

Which brand or team inspired you the most this season?
Let us know in the comments!