Shark Tank India Season 5: Shark Tank India Season 5 delivered another high-intensity episode, packed with sharp questions and tense face-offs between founders and judges Anupam Mittal, Kunal Bahl, and Aman Gupta. Among the standout pitches was Sovrenn, a data-driven stock discovery and market analysis platform presented by founders Akriti Swaroop, Aditya Joshi, and Apoorva Joshi. The trio quickly caught the judges’ attention by revealing their elite academic backgrounds, all IIT alumni, with Akriti and Aditya also being batchmates from IIM Calcutta, one of India’s most prestigious management institutes. Their credentials were so impressive that JetSetGo founder Kanika Tekriwal jokingly asked if there were any achievements left to reveal.
But pedigree alone wasn’t enough to seal the deal. Despite demonstrating strong market knowledge and analytical depth, Sovrenn failed to secure an investment. The founders found themselves up against Multibagg.ai, a three-member startup operating in the same space but powered by AI. After hearing both sides, Aman Gupta threw his weight behind the AI-first model, while Anupam Mittal delivered a blunt verdict, remarking, “Duniya aage nikal gyi hai,” signalling that Sovrenn’s approach felt outdated in a rapidly evolving, AI-driven market.
Sovrenn Shark Tank India pitch
Sovrenn, a stock discovery, analysis, and tracking platform, pitched for Rs 1 crore investment for 1 per cent equity, taking their company valuation to Rs 100 crore. Started in 2023, Sovrenn is a fully bootstrapped model with over 1.2 lakh subscribers. The only thing that impressed the Shark Tank India judges was the founders’ educational background. Akriti, apart from being an IIT Khadakpur graduate, also did her MBA from IIM Calcutta. She is a CFA charter holder and worked for Deutsche Bank for five years. Learning this, Aman Gupta commented, “Aap toh bade padhe likhe ho yaar. [You are pretty well-read]”
Aditya, the 90% stakeholder of Sovrenn, also shared that he attended IIT Delhi and met Akirit at IIM Calcutta. A silver-medallist and rank-holder at both institutions, he worked at BCG for 6 years and reported to Lenskart’s Peyush Bansal as Vice President for 1.5 years. Commenting on this transition from BCG to Lenskart, the Shaadi.com founder remarked, “Tumhaari gaadi chadti bohot acchi hai, lekin utarti ek dum dhug se, BCG se sidha Lenskart [Your trajectory starts great, but dips below quite fast, from BCG to Lenskart],” indicating a decline.
Aditya’s sister, Apoorva, a 1.5% stakeholder, also completed her B Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Delhi. With 3 IIT graduates and 2 IIM MBA holders, the entrepreneurs still did not manage to impress the investors.
What discouraged the sharks?
The major red flag for the Shark Tank judges was the share split among the three founding members. However, no AI integration and manual analysis discouraged investors, too. Mittal, Gupta, and Mohit Yadav pointed out a massive difference between the stakeholders’ shares. While Aditya held 92.99 per cent of the company, his sister Apoorva owned 5 per cent, and Akriti owned 2 per cent, after a stellar IIT-IIM background, drawing Rs 1.5 lakh a month.
Calling this split unfair, Shark Tank judge Anupam Mittal said, “Give her 50 per cent,” as he pointed out how they worked equally hard on Sovrenn. Expressing his concern over no AI integration, Kunal Bahl said, “Kahi hum peeche toh nahi reh gaye, has the AI race overtaken us?”
Both Multibagg.ai and Sovrenn’s founders raised serious allegations about their competitors. While Aditya claimed that Multibagg’s model only gave generic answers, the latter claimed that Sovrenn manipulated their data. At the end, the one-man show walked away with a Rs 50 lakh investment from boat’s Aman Gupta.