[theme music playing]
'Shark Tank India'
'has taken entrepreneurship to every household.'
'It is said the greater the impact, the greater the obligation.'
In honour of this obligation,
Joining us in the Tank today are Ecopreneurs.
Entrepreneurs are important to bring about change,
and ecopreneurs are just as important too.
They're changing the world too but in a sustainable way.
'Cool The Globe is a carbon handprint app'
'which helps individuals reduce their carbon footprint.'
We're seeing the changes in weather patterns
because of global warming.
So, we realise the damage to our environment
and what its implications are.
And that's why we're talking about it.
'Digital Paani is an IoT-enabled software'
'that just like a doctor tracks the health of treatment plants'
'and manages it with the right expertise.'
'Canvaloop is a bio-material science company'
'that converts agricultural waste'
'into textile fibres and yarns'
'using our zero-waste proprietary technology.'
I would like to invest in solutions
that address big issues
and that address issues
with a solution that is feasible and measurable.
A few years ago, I took firecrackers home.
My little girl said,
"Dad, I don't want to burst crackers as they cause pollution."
So, you can witness the change.
It is our responsibility to leave a better planet for them.
'We have only 30 years'
'to avoid the worst effects of climate change.'
'If we need to do this in 30 years,'
'we need to see this as an entrepreneur,'
'not just me personally, but as a world.'
Our generation made the internet.
You see its immense benefits as well as its drawbacks.
We're all addicted,
but the next generation,
not only will they heal the world,
they'll save the world through ecopreneurship.
All right, let's start today's Ecopreneur Special episode.
[theme music playing]
[theme music concludes]
When I was nine years old,
my school teacher gave us a unique homework.
It was to write a letter,
not to someone else but to ourselves.
- Oh! - To Prachi ten years from now.
"Who do I want to be when I grow up?"
I wrote it and then forgot about it.
After ten years,
my teacher sent me the letter I wrote back then.
- Wow. - I brought that for you.
This is the letter.
[chuckles]
I was shocked upon reading it
because the younger me wrote
that I want to change the world when I grow up
and do something to bring about a change.
My words inspired me
and at the age of 18,
I took a gap of a year to travel across India.
I met a lot of people.
I spoke to farmers and sanitation workers,
and listened to the dreams of little children.
This experience changed me.
During this time, I witnessed firsthand
how the world's biggest problem
that is climate change was affecting people's day-to-day lives.
It got me thinking
about what I could do about a problem of this magnitude.
And that's how Cool The Globe started.
You must have heard of carbon footprint.
Cool The Globe is a carbon handprint app.
It helps individuals reduce their carbon footprint.
- which is almost equal to my weight. - Oh.
How can I become eco-friendly in day-to-day life?
Our app is directly linked
they have prevented 34 lakh kg of carbon emissions
from entering the environment,
Our mission is
to make every household and business in India carbon-neutral.
Greetings, Sharks.
My name is Prachi Shevgaonkar
Our ask is Rs. 25 lakhs for 5% equity.
Let's Cool The Globe together!
Wow!
- Hi, Prachi. - Hi!
Welcome to this special episode
- which is dedicated solely to the environment. - Yes.
I run a YouTube series on health
called 'Uncondition Yourself with Namita'.
Dia Mirza was on my show
and she laid out, in detail,
the impact of the environment on health.
- Very debilitating disease. - Yes, my dad had it.
Exactly, so you know how tough it is.
And that was all because of extremely high pollution.
- That was my wake-up call. - Yes.
What was your trigger moment is what I want to understand.
I took a year's gap
and decided to work in high-impact areas.
When I ran a Google search on the greatest current problem,
the results showed climate change.
I was not convinced.
I knew there were a lot of other grave problems
like hunger and illiteracy.
Why should I worry about
the polar ice melting in some other part of the world?
So, I worked in education and alongside farmers,
and even then, climate change didn't elude me.
When I was working on the ground, I met a 12-year-old boy.
He lived in a slum near Pune.
I said to him,
"You get one wish. You can ask for anything."
I will never forget his answer.
He said, "I would wish"
"that my house doesn't get filled with water again."
Gosh.
We read in the newspapers about floods
and extreme weather conditions owing to climate change
with a growing frequency and higher intensity.
It was the first time I realised that when I read this kind of news,
it could also mean that a 12-year-old child
would have to worry about something as basic as shelter above his head.
As I met more and more people over time,
I realised that it wasn't about the big words,
but our personal lives.
What do your parents do?
I ask this
the simplicity and the conviction with which you speak.
It seems like your parents have raised you really well.
I had made a similar pitch to my parents
when I decided I wanted to follow an unconventional career path.
And by the end of it, they were just as excited as I was
to come on this journey with me.
They taught chemical engineering for 30 years.
- Now, they... - As a teacher?
- Yes, as a teacher. - Okay.
They now work full-time with me.
- Okay. - I'm their boss now.
- So... - Oh, wow!
Incredible! And mom?
My mom is also an engineer, my sister is also an engineer.
I'm the only non-engineer
and now, I'm going to employ all three of them.
My wife has been working on climate change for 15 years.
She was earlier working for TERI.
She and her team even won a Nobel Prize
- on climate change. - Yes.
After that, she was working
Before that, she was in the EU in climate change.
We have a lot of discussions on climate change
- that have brought a lot of changes in our lives and home. - Wow.
- What changes did you make in your life from... - Yes?
- It's easier said than done. It's not easy. - True.
So, what changes did you make?
When I embarked on this journey, I asked my dad.
We decided to start from our own house.
We took a challenge
to reduce our carbon footprint by 10% that year.
My college was just 15 km away.
So, for four days a week, I'd cycle to college.
That made me fit and also reduced my emissions.
We fixed a solar water heater at home.
That also reduced emissions.
We put a system in place to recycle house waste.
That reduced emissions too.
Even today, I reduce my emissions by 10% every year.
I'm not perfect
and I don't expect my users to be perfect too.
The important part is that each one of us
- brings small changes at our own levels. - Correct.
Correct, but when you embarked on this journey,
didn't you think of joining a company
or some climate change experts and learning from them too?
Actually, I hadn't thought of building an app.
Initially, we were wondering if there was any such app
that'd bring people like me together,
but couldn't find one at the time.
That's when we thought if no one had built such an app, we would.
When I decided I wanted to work in climate change,
I worked with different organisations
in various capacities.
- I see. Where? - Like Climate Leadership Coalition
- which is Europe's largest climate business network. - Yes.
I'm the first Indian advisor
So, many such...
Are you an environmental activist
or do you really want to build a business?
- I started out as an activist. - Okay.
I've been doing this for many years.
And this is what I observed.
We have only 30 years
to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
If we need to do this in 30 years,
we need to see this as an entrepreneur,
not just me personally, but as a world.
Prachi, could you talk about the app and the business?
- Could you give a demo? - Good question.
Yes, please.
The app is available on the Play Store and App Store.
People can download the app for free.
I'll give you a demo of the app
in exchange for certain promises from all of you.
- [laughter] - I like her.
- The first promise is from Aman. - Of course.
[laughter]
Then the app will tell you that by doing so,
- you've reduced 4 kg CO2 emissions. - Not making that promise.
The next promise from Namita.
Your dress is very pretty.
Instead of buying five new dresses,
if you reuse this dress on five occasions,
the app will tell you that
you've reduced almost 20 kg CO2 emissions.
I'll tell you an easier one.
- I took this on collab which is renting. - Wow!
And renting and thrifting is the best.
Good! You're already doing this.
- I've saved your records. - Yes.
Coming to Radhika.
If you promise me that after you go home,
you won't use the AC...
That's three pledges from three Sharks.
So, the bottom line is that you calculate...
- Yes, quantify. - The activities...
- Based on the activities, what is the harm or the benefit. - Exactly.
- Savings in carbon emission. - Absolutely.
After using the app, a lot of users said,
"I am using this for myself,"
"but how can I do this along with my batchmates,"
- "and colleagues?" - Very interesting.
So, now, we're launching an app for communities and organisations.
Every user can see their monthly target.
out of which she has achieved 145 kg.
Suppose you want to see the progress of the others on Shark Tank India.
This is our organisational dashboard
that shows the total emissions saved by the whole team.
You can see which team is winning.
For now, the Sharks are winning.
[laughs]
And who in this team is leading?
Anupam.
- Thank you. - Very bad.
You can deploy this very efficiently in an organisation.
- Like many organisations have a fitness challenge. - Yes.
- You can have a carbon footprint challenge In a team of 300. - Yes.
- You can hold a challenge. - A very nice motivational thing
in a corporate set-up.
- It could be a nice idea. - Very nice, yes.
We conducted climate action training with over 200 organisations
"I will buy it, but you make it."
And that's why, we're now making it.
All right.
Did anyone actually buy it?
The organisational version is in development
We have 7 MOUs
- with 7 large organisations. - Very good.
but the individual one for personal use is in the market.
- Yes. - Since when?
Since 2021.
but our daily users are fewer.
- Right now, the... - What's the number?
Around 500.
We realised that when we nudge
- or send notifications, the usage goes up. - Correct.
- People need daily engagement and daily nudging. - That's right.
How many downloads do you get daily?
Um, we get around 1,000 monthly.
It's all organically, we haven't spent anything on it.
- Do you have a business model in that app? - This one?
- Not in that one. - That's free.
Organisations could take this app
for their employees at an annual subscription
of Rs. 300 to 500 annually per employee.
We're pre-revenue.
People can choose different offsetting projects as well.
Those who did not reduce can opt for offsetting.
This is our second business model.
Offsetting is where you reduce something from your behaviour chain.
What I can't reduce, I offset.
So, someone else reduces it on my behalf.
How?
For instance, we have tree plantation projects.
For that project, I purchase offset
and say that I bought x tonnes of carbon dioxide,
which organisations are currently doing.
Why would an individual employee buy it?
Suppose I didn't meet my goal for the month,
so I offset it.
- We could also give subscriptions to organisations. - I see.
You could buy the offset for your employees.
If a company takes this from you,
if they report ESG, does it become one of the items?
- It does. Yes. - It does!
could be manifold reality.
Just as people used to put
- the step tracker on their dog. - Yes.
- To win these challenges. - Absolutely.
How does the app track
whether people are actually achieving their goal?
We gave this choice
where we asked users to upload photos
and then record.
It became a hindrance for the user
- to upload photos. - It became cumbersome.
- Yes... - No one will do it.
Second thing, we had two fail-safes.
One is that we removed the recurring action
because that happens in one go in high quantities.
So, lying in high quantities is not allowed.
[laughter]
The second fail-safe is we have an anomaly detection in place.
If this is not consistent with...
Suppose I stay in India,
this behaviour is not consistent with where I'm from.
This is not consistent with my past behaviour.
We will get a notification saying, "This doesn't seem true."
Then, we will remove that.
- I have an offer for you. - I have an offer for you.
Yes.
- Will you go first? - You go first.
Okay. My offer is only because of you.
I think the business is way too young right now.
The institutional app isn't even ready yet.
Before I add the offer,
- I want to say I can add a lot of value. - Okay.
Our firm is a UN PRI signatory.
This has a good value proposition for corporates.
I could open that network to you.
So, here's my offer.
I'll give you Rs. 10 lakhs in equity
for 10% of the company.
- That's a Rs. 1-crore valuation. - Okay.
I'll give you the remaining Rs. 15 lakhs in debt
but that debt is at 8% interest
which is bank-equivalent interest,
given your cause.
- if I support this even more. - Yes.
Right? I'll give you the offer of what you asked for.
Rs. 25 lakhs at 5% equity.
- Wow! - Okay.
When I saw the features and your thinking,
this is very easy to copy.
So, I think you're a little early for me now
and you've got two fantastic offers.
- Love your enthusiasm, but for today, I'm out. - Okay.
Here's how I look at the problem.
When you said
that you started travelling by bus...
People should start travelling by bus,
stop eating meat
and start switching off their ACs,
these are very fundamental behaviours of humans.
That's what we're talking about changing.
As per my understanding,
people will not be able to change these fundamental behaviours.
If there are better solutions,
like instead of switching the AC off,
if there's an AC with less power consumption,
I'd switch to that.
I feel that
the biggest change in carbon emissions will come
when these very products change.
I feel that in B2B,
the purpose it is used for could be prone to fraud.
Overall, for these reasons, I'm out.
Okay, all right.
Love your energy, amazing purpose.
You've dedicated your life to this.
So, I salute you.
Not only are you pre-revenue,
you're a pre-product market fit as well, right?
And you have no moat.
Your barriers to entry in this business
aren't even known today.
- You already have an amazing offer. - Yes.
I don't know what they'll combine and offer to you.
My advice to you will be to please take their offer.
They might be able to give you good advice when it comes to business.
If they don't, you can always come to the master. I'm available.
- Sure. - I'd love to be connected to you.
- Good luck. I'm out but my heart is in. - Thank you.
Aw! Heart is in!
I completely agree.
There's no moat, you're pre-revenue and pre-product market fit.
There's a lot of work to be done.
So, taking this from an idea to a full-fledged business,
and, Aman, I thought about it,
I'd like 10% ownership because there's a lot of work.
It'll be time-consuming and I'm ready to invest that time.
Radhika is trying to say
that she doesn't want that valuation to be what I had given.
- She doesn't believe in that and if we both came on board... - Yes.
- Rs. 25 lakhs at 10% is what she's looking at. - Yes.
I just want to ask
if your previous offer is still on the table.
You have only one offer, which is Radhika's and mine for now.
Rs. 25 lakhs at 10% equity. Are you in or out?
It's just a request.
Our valuation is low because we're pre-revenue,
but it's going to increase really quickly.
How much will your revenue grow to?
We already have MOUs amounting to Rs. 1 crore.
I'm okay with 6% equity for Rs. 25 lakhs.
Radhika, you want 10% equity
- and she's willing to give 6%. - Yes.
Settle for 8%. She's a good entrepreneur.
- Okay. 8% it is. - How about 8% equity?
- No, it's because... - Or I'd never do it.
I'm telling you we'll benefit if both of us come.
Okay. Thank you so much for your offer.
The deal is closed. Rs. 25 lakhs for 8% equity.
[music fades]
- Hello, Prachi! Welcome to the PokerBaazi Zone! - Hi!
You've made quite an impression on Shark Tank!
Let's find out if you'll be crowned the Baazigar Of The Day
through the game we're about to play.
- Are you ready? - Yes!
I like Prachi's confidence.
All right! I will call you.
- Let's see if you can tell us eight things. - Okay.
And your time starts now!
Shopping less.
- Not buying a new house. Renting! - Oh!
Dropping out of college. Not going for a haircut.
Not eating out.
Ah... Not having friends.
- And... - Not having a kid.
- That's all! - Okay!
- Seven! - Seven!
- Was I going to win? - Almost!
But because you are helping the planet,
you get this!
Only on PokerBaazi!
Where you hold the cards. Download now!
[theme music playing]
Sharks, cotton shirts are adored by people worldwide.
They are comfortable and look good.
But do you know
that producing one pair of cotton clothing
requires 9,000 litres of fresh water?
Canvaloop is a bio-material science company.
using our zero-waste proprietary technology.
Our fibres
use 99% less water
into 40 tonnes of textile-grade fibres.
Including denim, shirts,
carpets, and saris.
We have taken a stand against textile pollution.
Our vision is that
if we can convert even 0.1% of the annual textile fibre consumption
of 10 crore tonnes
to agri waste based fibre,
we can bring about a significant change.
For this, our ask is
My primary education is in finance.
I was working at Barclays investment banking.
And then I went to the US for my master's.
When I went there, I realised that this was a problem.
My family is in textiles.
But I didn't have this insight.
When I went there, I realised this.
We pursued this as a project in our college.
This journey began from there.
We had met to get married.
It was an arranged marriage set-up.
- Yeah! - Wow! Are you from Surat?
No, I am from Patna, Bihar.
I was pursuing MBA when I met him.
When I met him,
my education and his goal aligned.
So, I joined Canvaloop
as Director of Marketing and PR
I handle sales,
fundraising and product development.
- She handles digital marketing and PR. - PR!
And then we have another co-founder who is not here.
He handles manufacturing.
Why is he not here?
We have an ongoing order.
One of us had to be there.
To ensure there is no compromise.
You mentioned hemp, banana,
and pineapple leaves in your pitch. Tell us about that.
As an industry practice,
which raw material or natural product
matches what finished product?
What do you sell?
We sell fibres and yarns.
Now, coming to the application point of it.
Hemploop, flaxloop
and basically what is derived from plants stem
are suitable for all purposes.
You can make saris from them.
I am wearing a blazer and shirt made from them.
- My top! - Bottom wear.
They are made from hemploop and flaxloop.
- Can you show it to us? - Yes!
These are the fibres.
These are the yarns made from these fibres.
These are the fabric swatches.
Very nice.
This is the silk sari made from pineloop.
Yes! Radhika, it's a little bit coarser.
- Like Tussar silk! - Like... Tussar silk
- or one of those. - Like Tussar silk.
How is there a shine?
If you look at this cloth, there is a nice shine. What makes it shiny?
I'll show you the fibre. You'll see the shine in the fibre and in that.
[music rising]
Yes! There is a shine in the yarn.
There is a shine in the fibre.
This is Levi's jeans.
- Yes. - Yes, sir.
Is this a normal jeans or...
- It has 20% of our fibre. - Is it yours?
- Yes! - From our unit in Surat.
- Yes! - To Levi's?
- Not bad. - Levi's India!
This is Levi's US.
Levi's is
- one of the best companies for jeans worldwide. - Yes.
Why did they source your fibre?
There are only two companies like ours in the world.
- In the world? - Globally!
- And in India? - There is one more in India.
Us and Gencrest.
There is one more left.
It is a US-based company called Circular Systems.
- Hats off to you! - Good job!
- Thank you. - Thank you so much.
When you started the pitch, you mentioned
99% less water and 87% less carbon.
If we look at it with environment in mind,
Can you tell us the price difference between the two
that the customer has to pay extra?
- Price... - That is the most important question.
Currently, if
any brand launches this, they double the pricing.
Because they also want to earn a premium.
The brand runs a marketing campaign about it.
So they launch it for double the price.
How much does your pure fibre cost?
Pure fibre is Rs. 300...
- This Levi's jeans has 20% of your fabric. - 20%.
Tell me about the sari that are made from leaves and not stems.
- You can make pure saris from it. - Yes!
Tell me the cost difference
existing product versus yours.
Secondly, because of the claims you made,
I want to understand your production process.
Our pineloop is Rs. 2,500 per kg.
- Okay! - If you compare that with raw silk
or any pure silk,
The process starts in the field.
In the biochemical process, what we technically do is...
If you look at the waste under a microscope,
it has impurities like cellulose, lignin, pectin,
First is heating.
We create a briquette of our waste
- and use it as biofuel. - Good.
We recycle 80% of water from that
and use it in our process again.
And 20% that is remaining
is evaporated during the process.
Otherwise, we also...
Eventually, when we scale, we can use solar.
Sales, cap table and funding status.
Last month, we sold fibres worth Rs. 1.2 crores.
The month before that was Rs. 1 crore.
- the year before that? - Last year, we closed at Rs. 3.2 crores.
This year, till February, we generated Rs. 7 crores.
We will close at Rs. 1.2 crores in March.
We will close at around Rs. 8 crores this year.
- We have had EBITDA positive for the last 3 years. - Margin?
- worth Rs. 18 crores for next year. - What?
from two of the largest industries. One is Sintex Industries
which is owned by Reliance.
The second is Avanti Pte
which is a sourcing house based out of Singapore.
Very nice! Wonderful!
Very good, bro!
How successful can this business become?
Annually, the consumption of fibre
Our target is to reach there in the next 5 years.
How much is it in value terms?
In value terms, it is Rs. 2,000 crores.
We have raised two rounds of external funding.
We raised the first round in August 2021.
Pre-seed round of Rs. 1.5 crores
from Theia Ventures and Tata Social Alpha.
Pre-money valuation of Rs. 10 crores.
Rs. 10 crores.
We raised a bridge round in August
from our existing investors and a couple of angels.
- August 2023? - 2023.
- Okay! - The purpose was to get all the certifications.
The numbers
- and claims we are making. - Very good.
When we verified this from the third party,
that was when the brand started buying from us in bulk.
We have raised Rs. 1.1 crores
because that is how much we needed
to serve that specific purpose.
We raised it with a floor of Rs 25 crores.
And cap?
Cap of Rs. 30 crores.
- Your purpose is agri waste. - Correct!
And to use it effectively.
How many farmers
and farmland owners are you tied up with?
How many more farmers will you impact?
What part of India do they come from?
At the moment, we import 60% of agri waste.
For the remaining 40%,
we have existing farmer clusters here
which are FPOs formed by the Government of India.
We get in touch with them.
There are nine such clusters active in India.
South Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh.
These are the four states where this is active.
Right now, it is 60% import
- and 40% in India. - Right!
What is your goal for the next 3 years?
Around 10-15 crore tonnes of waste is burnt in India alone.
This is a documented figure.
The actual figure is much larger.
In the same categories? Pineapple, banana, and hemp.
Yes! In stem categories.
You said that your last year's margin was 12%.
It is 27% this year.
Why was there an increase?
I have a manufacturing set-up.
- It has a fixed cost of Rs. 15 lakhs. Right! -Okay!
If I produce material worth Rs. 1 crore
this month,
then the EBITDA goes up automatically!
My gross margin will always remain the same.
You said you have the purchase order
of Rs. 18 crores for the next year.
What do you think 27% will...
Between 31%-32%.
- The numbers will go higher. - Yes.
Okay! I have an offer for you. But I think...
We are in a queue.
- We'll make an offer. - Namita, Aman and I will make an offer.
Namita will give you the offer on our behalf.
Our deal is subject
- to your vision. - Yes.
You will move from 60% imports to 100% within India.
- This is vital for us. Right! - Correct!
Our offer is,
we would like to give you Rs. 1 crore
A lot!
I would like to give you my offer.
Rs. 1 crore for only 2%.
- Correct. - You also manufacture.
How much is your manufacturing installed capacity?
Our installed capacity is 40 tonnes.
- How much are you aiming for? - Currently, it is 40 tonnes, sir.
You said you want to do
1% of 10 crores.
- 0.1%. - How many tonnes is that?
- 1 lakh tonne. - How much capacity do you need?
We are currently raising a round.
Rs. 10 crores equity and Rs. 5 crores debt.
Where is that round? Which stage?
Our existing investors will re-invest.
- What is the valuation? - Rs. 75 crores.
That is the exact valuation we've come here for.
- There is still time for that! - It has started.
- Existing investors are investing Rs. 1 crore each. - In process.
How much is that?
Rs. 2 crores have been invested.
Understood! Tell me about capacity and manufacturing.
- As of now, it is 40 tonnes. - Okay!
With the fund of Rs. 10 crores,
As this niche area
becomes mainstream,
- the game is about who executes sooner. - Correct.
And can increase the capacity of the plant.
- How did Reliance become the king of this industry? - Correct.
By executing and becoming the largest in the world.
- Right? - Correct!
- You need capital for that. - Yes!
You are raising small capital rounds.
And you might
miss that wave.
Someone might just install a 1 lakh tonnes capacity
and you are where you are.
There are two things to consider.
Climate tech companies generally
won't go 100X, 10X or 20X in a year.
Because this product has to be picked from a farm.
- It will be manufactured. - Hmm!
My scaling up has to happen step-by-step
because I have to match 3 things.
Sourcing, production, and demand.
- Your process takes time. - Yes.
Three of the things need to move in tandem.
So, according to us
3X per year growth
is the speed at which we want to grow.
If I grow 3X every year
from the current quantum,
then I will reach Rs. 2,000 crores in the next 7 years.
- That is my target! - Good.
I will make you an offer.
I want to do it alone.
Because I think it's too little equity otherwise. It won't be fun.
Rs. 1 crore for 1.5%.
We don't want you to dilute too much.
- Really! That's not true. - That's' not true.
- There is always a power of many. - Right!
Mr. Azhar, will you match that offer?
Yes, I will match his offer.
- Can you give us our time? We'll discuss... - Yes, please go.
Thank you!
Should we combine?
- Sorry! - Do you want to combine?
We can do that. I would prefer to do that with you.
[suspenseful music playing]
Slight change! Azhar and I will combine.
You will have two of us at 1.5%.
Why can't we get all of you together?
- Ah! I knew that. - Aman, Namita and Ms. Radhika
can invest Rs. 1 crore at 1.5%.
And you and Azhar sir can invest Rs. 1 crore at 1.5%.
What are we doing? Only then will I agree.
- Either we are together... - Are we together or not?
Then that's the only deal.
- Yes! - We are only...
- We are... - You now have only one deal.
Since you wanted 5 Sharks, the deal has unfortunately changed.
Anupam is going to give you a revised offer.
Rs. 2 crores for 4%.
[music rises]
I think, let's go to the middle ground.
- Can we close at 3.5%? - No!
- that every percent matters. - It isn't possible, Shreyans.
[music swells]
So, Sharks! Rs. 2 crores for 4% equity
Zero-Waste process is a process
Shreyans and Nandini, congratulations!
You two killed it today.
By the way,
my mom vouches for sustainability.
She never discards our new clothes
until they are worn and are fit to be used as mops.
[laughing]
How could fabrics made with Canvaloop Fibre
change our environment?
Firstly, it's good for you
because it imparts performance features.
Functionally, it's superior.
It's anti-UV, anti-microbial, breathable, and comfortable.
You'd get a better feel than cotton and linen.
Secondly, it's not fast fashion. It's 'slow fashion'. Right?
In that sense, we can protect the environment
from textile-based landfills.
Wonderful!
Acko welcomes the change you have introduced.
By the way, Acko has introduced some significant changes in insurance.
You can download the ACKO App
and get car insurance, bike insurance,
and health and travel insurance too.
You can also pay the fine for breaking the traffic rules.
Please send some nice clothes for me.
Until then these people will download the ACKO App.
Please leave your impact on the Change Makers Wall before you leave.
[theme music playing]
[ethereal music playing]
Sharks, do your friends or relatives stay in Bengaluru?
Then you must have heard
- that the ground water has almost dried up there. - Gosh!
60 crore people in our country face scarcity of water.
contaminate rivers like Yamuna.
However, this waste water
can be the solution to our problem.
If we treat and recycle this water,
I hail from Rajasthan
and I have closely experienced the scarcity of water.
So after pursuing chemical engineering at IIT Delhi,
There are around 90,000 waste water treatment plants
but still, this problem isn't solved
because 70% of the plants don't work properly.
Operators don't have the expertise
to detect problems and solve them.
Building an infrastructure isn't enough.
We must run them properly
and only technology can help us do that at this stage.
So after completing my studies at Stanford,
I decided to work on this problem
after returning to India
to save our earth from catastrophe.
[grinning]
Then we built Digital Paani together.
[inspirational music playing]
A digital water platform.
It helps us save
our customers' fines in crores of rupees.
Most importantly, it helps recycle water.
will need Digital Paani for compliance
and to meet water needs.
So, Sharks, we hope you're thirsty for a deal.
- [laughing] - Our ask is Rs. 70 lakhs
for 1% equity because Sharks need clean water to swim.
[grinning]
- Nice pitch. - Nice pitch!
Rajesh and Mansi, we welcome you two
to Shark Tank's ecopreneur-special episode.
I like the name of your brand.
- Thank you. - The father-daughter duo is highly qualified.
There's a dialogue in the 'Kabhi Kabhie' film.
"We have to drink the elixir of life through these hands."
"We have to feel their heartbeat"
- "and breathe along with them." - Well said.
- So we have... - Great!
Thank you. I'm happy that your work
of purifying water is taken forward by the next generation.
- Which year did you start Digital Paani? - The end of 2020.
"The end of 2020."
Can you simplify your product and tell us
what exactly you do?
Let me brief you about the problem
using this board.
Take the example of any industry.
It could be a pharmaceutical company or a hotel.
The waste water from those places
through flushing, kitchen and manufacturing
- goes to a waste water treatment plant. - Correct!
Every building or industry has a water treatment plant nowadays.
Unfortunately,
most of the treatment plants don't work as they face many problems.
They face problems like odour leakage,
Let me tell you Digital Paani's role in this.
Digital Paani is an IoT-enabled software
There might not be a pure play specifically with your features
but there are many such platforms.
- Sure. Definitely. - I think there are 3 types of competition for you.
Firstly, pure-play players like you.
Secondly, those who run complementary software
and aspire for this area.
And the third and most important
are the plant manufacturers.
They'll do forward integration
because they need value addition in their businesses.
Software is where the most of the value is.
They'll surely do forward integration.
I think those are the three competitors.
Thermax provides water treatment solutions in Pune.
- Right. - And they sell the actual plant.
They sell the plant along with the software.
I'd prefer to buy the plant and software from the same company.
Why would I buy the plant from them and use your software?
- Hang on. I want to explain. - Sure.
- Yes, please. - Ma'am, our platform...
By the way, I want to compliment you. I love the fact...
I have been observing you two.
She is the one taking charge
and answering all the questions. I love that.
- Yes, amazing. - Amazing chemistry.
Our platform is technologically agnostic.
We know all the technologies available in depth.
A company which designs and builds plants
have limited options.
They lack deep knowledge.
Players like Thermax can be our customers.
We are in talks with many big players for a partnership.
and also give the SOPs to the operators.
- Others don't give this. - But it can easily incorporate it.
They'd need years to incorporate it.
In how many years did you build it?
We built it in three years and we are still doing innovations.
For example, we are using computer vision
to detect by logical process settlement.
We are filing for a patent too.
We charge one-time or as an EMI.
- The average cost is Rs. 8.6 lakhs. - Okay.
It depends on the segments.
We work for both buildings and industries.
The cost could be as high as Rs. 50 lakhs per facility.
What is your margin?
We have a 30% margin in our overall onboarding fees.
Our second revenue stream
On an average, we charge Rs. 28,500 right now.
Currently, our onboarding fees forms a bigger part
and our software fees comprises around 23%.
It is increasing every year.
Can you tell us your revenue in the last three years?
Our revenue this year was Rs. 2.2 crores.
In FY 22-23, it was Rs. 2 crores.
Prior to that, it was Rs. 30 lakhs.
And the year before that we had just started.
Why didn't you grow? You made just Rs. 2.2 crores.
Last year, we had a big contract
which gave us around Rs. 70-Rs. 80 lakhs.
- Aside from that, we grew significantly. - Okay.
Secondly, our main revenue stream
which is monthly revenue has doubled.
Last year, our revenue was Rs. 4 lakhs
Around Rs. 2.2 crores of recurring software revenue
and the rest will be in terms of onboarding revenue.
You want to say that you'll grow from Rs. 8.5 lakhs
to Rs. 2.2 crores in SaaS revenue.
Yes. Our MRR is Rs. 8.3 lakhs right now so we'll get.
- Rs. 1 crore recurring revenue from the existing customers. - Right.
We expect to onboard
at least 50 plants next year.
Do you have it in the pipeline?
Yes. We have 2-3 segments.
One segment is buildings.
It has been our dominant segment till now.
We wanted to make it perfect,
achieve a product-market fit
and convert it into a profit centre.
It's happening now.
However, our prices
are lower as most of our customers are in the building segment.
Now we are trying
to make it a profit centre and focus on industries.
The price points are higher in industries.
So your Annual Contract Value will go up.
- You meant that. - Annual Contract Value will go up significantly.
Our average monthly revenue in industries is Rs. 50,000.
I already told, 90,000.
- 90,000. - 90,000!
- It means there's a huge scope. - Yes.
TAM helps us calculate SAM.
The overall TAM is around Rs. 8,200 crores.
The SAM we expect is around Rs. 4,000 crores.
How many clients?
- SAM will be around 40,000. - Yes.
We are estimating approximately 50%.
Maybe you'll capture 10% of those companies.
Yes. We have estimated 15% as we're the front-runners in the market.
- So Serviceable Obtainable Market is around Rs. 600 crores. - Yes.
How long is your sales cycle?
Please don't talk about residential buildings.
Talk about your growing commercial market.
What is your sales cycle in that market?
It's typically, 3-4 months.
- Are 3-4 months enough? - Yes.
It takes up to 6 months in some industries.
- Please tell us about your funding. - Sure.
We raised the last round
of around Rs. 8 crore at a Rs. 41 crore valuation.
Is it post-money?
- Yes. Rs. 41 crores was post-money valuation. - What about pre-money?
- We raised Rs. 8 crores. - Rs. 33 crores.
- It's Rs. 33 crores. - When did you raise it?
It has been around one year
since we closed the round.
And then the money was released.
What about the previous rounds?
We have raised only one round till now.
What about the cap table?
- I own 51.7%. - Okay.
He owns 17.8%.
Our ESOP pool is 10%
and the rest is owned by the investors.
How do you two share responsibilities? Do you do sales?
Definitely! It's necessary.
Historically, to how many people you've pitched your product till now
to convert these 43 clients?
Our conversion rate is around 20%.
We added 16 clients.
How many clients did you add the year before that?
We added 11 customers.
How many clients did you have the year before?
We added 10 clients before that.
- But your revenue was Rs. 30 lakhs three years ago. - Yes.
You mean to say
that 11 clients gave you Rs. 2 crore revenue last year
but 10 clients in the previous year gave you just Rs. 30 lakh revenue.
When we started out,
we charged Rs. 3-Rs. 4 lakhs CapEx.
- I mean the implementation part. - It increased.
We charged just Rs. 10,000-Rs. 15,000 as we had to prove ourselves.
You said you added 10 clients, 11 clients, and 16 clients.
You add a similar number of clients every year.
As our product is a technical product,
we needed time to prove the entire case study.
Are you profitable?
We are not profitable.
Our building segment will now become the profit centre.
Now we're investing in the product
and sales and marketing.
Especially for the industrial segment.
You two are surely intelligent and well-educated.
You are dealing with a problem
and you could be successful
in pinpointing the main issue
and in building a small business.
However, today I'm not convinced
that your business will grow speedily.
That's the basic reason for me to be out.
[tense music plays]
Do you have money in the bank account?
- Yes. - How much?
Around Rs. 5.3 crores in the bank account and we have receivables too.
How long will they last?
- 25 months. - How will you use Rs. 70 lakhs?
We'll invest Rs. 70 lakhs in 2-3 things.
- Please be quick. - We'll invest in partnerships.
As you said, we want to work with OEMs.
by growing our lead generation.
- All right. - We need your reach and support.
There is a plethora of opportunities. We need guidance
to build a good business
and have strong fundamentals to reach that opportunity potential.
I said something to you in the beginning.
I told you that waste water plant OEMs
Unfortunately, I'm not at all in line with the market size
you claimed.
When people start capturing...
Finally, the valuation you told us is far from believable for me.
Rs. 70 crores makes absolutely no sense
for a company like yours at this stage.
So respectfully, I'm out.
Thank you.
- You already received a valuation of Rs. 41 crores. Right? - Yes.
I can't reduce your valuation.
For a Rs. 2.2 crore sales,
Rs. 40 crore valuation doesn't match in any way.
That is my biggest challenge
towards investing in the business and for that reason, I'm out.
Good job! Keep doing this as it's a nice purpose.
We need clean water.
Gurgaon, Bengaluru and other places will face this problem. Good effort.
Valuation is a big concern and you won't accept a lower value.
Unfortunately, I'm out.
You don't need money or an investor
because you already have money, I believe.
Thank you so much.
Somewhere the execution isn't adding up.
if you want to make sales of Rs. 6 crores.
According to me, it's a huge figure in SaaS.
And its execution is extremely difficult.
Maybe you need to revisit your sales process.
But I think both of you are doing a great effort.
I'm out for now. Thank you.
Unfortunately, all of us are out.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
- Alright, guys. Bye. - Thank you.
- Thank you. Bye. - Bye.
Team Digital Paani, welcome to PokerBaazi zone.
My eyes just water
after looking at you father-daughter duo.
I mean, with happiness.
But right now, you won't play
as a team but
against each other.
It's a lovely little game.
You're already saying four!
So underconfident?
If dad says five, you can at least come up with six.
Alright, I'll try.
Do you want to raise?
Do you think you can say 7-8?
Not in 10 seconds. So let's give her a chance.
Alright, he has called it.
Your time starts now.
'Rani', 'Nani', 'Mani', 'Sayani', 'Hani',
And 'Matwali'.
No worries, I'll help you.
- 'Maharani'. - 'Maharani.'
We did cheat a little.
But daughters are allowed such things.
You've become the 'Baazigar Of The Day'.
I want to give you this.
- Thank you. - Entry ticket
to National Poker Series India worth one lakh rupees
on PokerBaazi.
India's biggest poker platform.
Only on PokerBaazi, where you hold the cards.
Download now!
Welcome Team Digital Paani.
Tell me something.
Which one of you spends the most?
Out of the two of us, it's me.
- Oh! - He doesn't spend.
[chuckling]
That's balance and money management.
If your money management is good, then you can spend all you want.
By the way, do you know about the offerings of
FIRST Wings by IDFC FIRST Bank?
- No. - No.
No worries, I'll tell you.
FIRST Wings by IDFC FIRST Bank
understands the needs of scaling start-ups.
That's why, they provide unique products and services
specially curated to power up your startup.
Their founder success program
gives you the opportunity
to get mentorship from industry leaders,
network with startups, and raise funds to scale your startup.
All the very best for your business.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
Alright. This was fun.