Turning TV exposure into startup growth

Now in its fifth season on SonyLIV, Shark Tank India It is increasingly positioning itself as a marketing accelerator rather than a pure capital-raising platform. Several startup founders interviewed for this story said the program’s biggest impact lies in reducing friction in customer acquisition and shortening deployment timelines.

Smylo, a direct-to-consumer cat food startup ₹75 lakhs in the latest season shows the immediate post-release impact. Smylo co-founder Kartikeya Gupta said the brand saw a five-to-six-fold increase in organic followers after the episode aired, while customer acquisition costs fell as the national television exposure built instant trust with first-time buyers.

Smylo’s Meta spend to achieve the same sales volumes today is almost 30% lower than pre-release, he noted, adding that the impact is most visible in increased discovery and demand from Tier II and III markets.

While increased visibility may help reduce marketing intensity in the short term, Gupta noted that sustaining growth depends on continued optimization of category and product mix rather than relying on a one-time boost from television exposure.

Smylo received total investment ₹75 lakhs for 1% equity and 2% consultancy equity, valuation to the company ₹75 crore from Sharks Anupam Mittal, Kunal Bahl and Varun Alagh.

Consultants who follow the space said such experiences are common among Shark Tank-backed consumer brands.

“Shark Tank does not create a moat or competitive advantage,” said Himanshu Trivedi, vice president of Avalon Consulting. “What this creates is a sharp increase in visibility that reduces consumer hesitancy at the time of initial purchase, but this effect usually normalizes within a year unless founders build strong sustained demand and unit economics.”

What does visibility provide?

A lot Shark Tank India Sales pitches have turned into huge results, especially for consumer brands.

Let’s Try, the snack brand featuring Aman Gupta ₹12 lakh investment is reportedly valued at approx. ₹40 crore today, it is one of the highest-yielding investments of the show. In FMCG, Skippi Ice Pops made an early debut and increased its monthly sales. ₹2-2.8 crore after its release on the show. Nasher Miles passed ₹80 crore in proceeds following the multi-shark deal, while Ravelcare had a rarer public market result, delivering an IPO gain of around 55% for early investors.

Get-A-Whey, now known as Get-A-Way Ice Cream, offers a larger-scale example. The Mumbai-based healthy ice cream brand, which was the winner of the first season of Shark Tank India, was launched in December 2021. ₹7.9 crore revenue in FY23 ₹14.8 crore in FY24, according to Tracxn data.

“We were running this completely on our own and it was a bootstrapped brand,” said Pashmi Shah Agarwal, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Get-A-Way, adding that marketing spend was “about 1% of total revenue, which is a very, very small number for a startup.”

However, after the episode aired, demand and visibility increased. “Within five minutes of the episode airing, we had a queue of around 40 riders coming to collect orders from Zomato and Swiggy,” Shah said. Although the company struggled to keep up with demand due to its limited geographic presence at the time, website traffic increased almost tenfold. According to Shah.

Visibility also triggered investor and franchise interest. According to Shah, the company has received “over a year” of franchise requests ₹The exposure helped the brand save on planned advertising spend. “Because people are already aware of what Get-A-Way is, we saved a lot of the ATL (above the line) and BTL (below the line) we had planned for the summer,” he said.

ATL (above the line) and BTL (below the line) refer to mass media advertising, such as television and print media, and more targeted, on-site or digital marketing activities.

Get-A-Whey secured ₹1 crore investment for 15% equity in the show. The deal was made with three Sharks: Aman Gupta, Ashneer Grover and Vineeta Singh.

Last week, Hyderabad-based dairy company Heritage Foods acquired approximately 51% stake in Get-A-Way. ₹9 crore, marking its entry into the ‘healthy indulgence’ segment.

Experts say the program’s most enduring advantage lies in distribution reach rather than sustained consumer demand. “The biggest tangible benefit is in distribution,” Trivedi said. “Modern trading and swing trading platforms are much more willing to onboard Shark Tank brands because the show does discovery upfront, shortening engagement cycles by months.”

This influence was also seen in Zoff Foods, the condiment and spice brand founded by brothers Akash and Ashish Agrawalla, which debuted in the second season of the series in January 2023.

“It is very difficult to list products on express trade as they charge a lot to list them, but since we already have visibility, they approached us,” said Akash Agrawalla, CEO of Zoff Foods, adding that the brand has also been able to enter larger grocery chains like DMart and Reliance.

Company estimates 15-minute view helps save money ₹10-15 crore in marketing spend.

Zoff Foods received investment from boAt co-founder Aman Gupta and signed an agreement. ₹1 crore for 1.25% equity, which translates into a valuation of approx. ₹80 crore. Later it grew around ₹40 crore from JM Financial Private Equity to expand product portfolio and strengthen distribution.

Men’s clothing brand Snitch is another example. after appearing Shark Tank India, After season 2, which was released in January 2023, the company ₹Revenue of around ₹ 500 crore generated by FY 25 ₹11 crore in FY21, more than 2000 built ₹30 crore in Ebitda and collected roughly ₹A valuation of around Rs 300 crore in Series B funding ₹2,500 crore, according to Tracxn.

Avalon Consulting said the company invested early in offline expansion, faster supply chains and operational depth rather than relying on discount-driven or ad-heavy growth.

Trivedi said Beyond Snacks is also using Shark Tank’s visibility to accelerate offline expansion.

Kerala-based banana chips brand revealed Shark Tank India, Season 1 hosted by founder Manas Madhu ₹50 lakhs for 2.5% equity and approx. with Ashneer Grover and Aman Gupta ₹20 crore

Rather than remaining D2C-focused, the brand has aggressively moved into modern and mainstream commerce, generating repeat purchases and stabilizing revenues beyond the initial TV-driven uptick, Trivedi said.

Income rose ₹0.6 crore in FY21 ₹3.5 crore in FY22, before passing ₹17.7 crore in FY23. Growth continued in the following years and revenues ₹34.1 crore in FY24 and ₹52.9 crore in FY25, according to Tracxn.

Structural risks

But an early rise may mask deeper structural challenges. “Many Shark Tank brands outperform their peers in terms of early top-line growth but underperform in terms of profitability and long-term scale,” Trivedi said.

TagZ Foods, which aired in season 1, ₹It had a revenue range of 15-20 crore before it faced margin pressure and was later acquired by Reliance Industries Ltd at a modest valuation. ₹28 crore. Wakao Foods continues to operate but has largely stagnated following the decline in TV-driven demand.

“This is especially seen in: ₹“30-50 crore revenue brand where fundamentals like margins, operational efficiency and governance start dominating the results,” Trivedi said.

The reach of the show now benefits brands beyond those vying for investment. Punjabi beverage company Lahori Zeera sponsored the fifth season, using the show as a national brand platform. “This is a big check, we’ve never written a check this big in our entire lives,” said co-founder Nikhil Doda, without disclosing the figure due to confidentiality agreements.

“The overall goal was just branding. We don’t expect it to result in sales,” Doda said, adding that the association helped increase passion for the brand and positioned it alongside much larger national players.

He said Shark Tank sponsorships make up about 20% of the company’s annual marketing budget, even though the brand has historically spent less than 2% of its revenue on advertising.

A queue of brands looking for attribution has formed Shark Tank India Sony Pictures Networks is one of India’s most prominent properties in recent times. According to an executive with direct knowledge of the matter, the show has a more urban and male-dominated feel, aimed at an audience over the age of 18; It reflects places where start-up culture and access to capital are concentrated. This audience profile in turn shapes the advertiser mix, with the show attracting more new-age, digital-first brands than traditional mass-market advertisers.

While the latest BARC data available is only for the last week of 2025, it brings to mind Sony’s marquee quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati it was not among the top 20 most watched Indian TV programs that week. Shark Tank India does not match KBCs has television reach but has a significant online audience on SonyLIV and YouTube. SonyLIV does not disclose streaming data, but clips from the show routinely receive up to 13 million views on YouTube, where the channel has over 4 million subscribers.

Over time, the show turned into a powerful marketing engine. As the Sharks become mainstream public figures, the founders routinely use the “as seen on Shark Tank” hashtag as a brand signal well beyond the episode’s airtime. Bimal Unnikrishnan, who previously worked on Sony’s flagship KBCalso the showrunner Shark Tank India.

“For SonyLiv, both shows are aspirational and celebrate knowledge, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end,” said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Shark Tank India was never designed to match KBC’s scale or viewership, the person said.

The economy also differs sharply. Shark Tank India much cheaper to produce KBCThis is partly because, in keeping with the global format, the Sharks are not paid for their participation.