‘Mera enterprise fundamental naam nahi aaega’: Aman Gupta units situation earlier than Rs 2 crore deal on Shark Tank India

The most recent episode of Shark Tank India 5 noticed boAt co-founder Aman Gupta emerge as the only investor in funds vacation spot marriage ceremony startup Awayddings, finalising a deal after different Sharks raised issues over the enterprise’s operational complexity.

The funding, nonetheless, got here with a agency situation, with Aman insisting that his title shouldn’t be related to the enterprise.

Awayddings was pitched by founders Ashish Godghate and Vijay Kumar earlier than a panel comprising Aman Gupta, Anupam Mittal, Namita Thapar, Mohit Yadav and Kunal Bahl. Whereas the founders made a baaraat-style entry into the tank, the dialogue quickly shifted to the challenges of working an operations-heavy marriage ceremony enterprise.

Through the pitch, Aman recalled a earlier funding expertise to elucidate his hesitation. “If somebody’s maid ran away, I’d get an e-mail. Yahan kisi ki towel nahi aayi woh toh hamari baja dega,” he mentioned, including, “Mera naam nahi aana chahiye isme. If somebody doesn’t get their towels, I shouldn’t get a WhatsApp. Mera enterprise fundamental naam nahi aaega.”

Awayddings is an inexpensive vacation spot marriage ceremony model based in 2021 by Pune-based Ashish Godghate and Goa-based Vijay Kumar. Ashish, who beforehand labored with OYO’s Weddingz.in, partnered with Vijay after the latter invested Rs 40 lakh to start out the enterprise. In search of to scale the enterprise, the founders requested for Rs 2 crore in trade for five p.c fairness, valuing the corporate at Rs 40 crore.

Questions across the firm’s fairness construction drew sharp reactions from the Sharks. The founders revealed that Kesari Excursions invested Rs 1.23 crore in 2023 for 50 p.c fairness. “You’ll give 50 p.c of your organization to them for Rs 1.5 crores?” Aman requested, whereas Anupam Mittal remarked, “Paise ke saath saath unhone identification bhi leli.” The founders later mentioned the fairness division was restructured to 75–25 after receiving pushback from different buyers. In addition they disclosed that each founders draw a month-to-month wage of Rs 1.5 lakh every.

On the monetary entrance, the founders mentioned Awayddings posted a income of Rs 1.95 crore in 2024–25 with an EBITDA margin of 10–12 p.c. In 2025–26, the corporate has recorded Rs 1.17 crore in year-to-date income and is projecting Rs 3.6 crore for the complete 12 months.

Operational challenges dominated the dialogue because the Sharks probed dangers distinctive to the marriage business. Anupam jokingly requested how the founders deal with non-payment after weddings, saying, “Kya baaraat ko gate par rok lete ho?” Vijay responded that that they had confronted fee points two or thrice and as soon as switched off the lights throughout a sangeet perform till fee was cleared. Namita Thapar later requested whether or not any marriage ceremony organised by Awayddings had been cancelled, to which Vijay mentioned their most up-to-date marriage ceremony was known as off after the bride and groom had points.

When Anupam requested if advances had been refunded in such conditions, Aman interjected, “Do you give a refund if somebody’s marriage ceremony doesn’t materialize via Shaadi.com?” Anupam replied, “We by no means take ensures.” Anupam additionally flagged issues about profitability leakage within the sector, noting that OYO finally exited Weddingz.in as a result of the enterprise was troublesome to standardise and scale.

Citing comparable issues, all Sharks besides Aman opted out of the deal. Kunal Bahl mentioned that launching metropolis by metropolis was difficult and that the complexity of such companies was “10x,” requiring important bodily effort. Namita mentioned scaling would imply dealing with a number of weddings throughout cities on the identical date, whereas Mohit Yadav described the class as fascinating however mentioned it was too early for him. Anupam concluded that whereas the enterprise might work effectively for the founders, it was not appropriate for enterprise capital-style funding.

Aman finally made a conditional provide of Rs 1 crore for 10 p.c fairness together with Rs 1 crore as debt at 10 p.c curiosity for 2 years. Because the deal was sealed, Aman celebrated by dancing to the beats of a dhol and mentioned, “Hum shaadi mein drones ke saath jaaenge.” The section ended on a light-weight observe when Anupam made Aman sit on a dhol as Namita quipped, “Begaani shaadi mein Aman deewana.”