'I'll help you become Trader Joe's of India': On Shark Tank India 4, Kunal Bahl gives Patanjali rival a deal they couldn't refuse

Kunal Bahl, the co-founder of Snapdeal and Titan Capital, has made one of the biggest investments in the fourth season of Shark Tank India so far. Bahl, the newest 'shark' in the tank, made a massive investment in Kiwi Kisan Window, a health food brand.

Founders of the brand -- a couple from Uttarakhand said that their brand brings regional specialties from across the country under one roof. When asked about the split of their offline and online sales, they said 97 per cent of their sales comes from offline channels and only 3 per cent is from online channels currently.

During their pitch, the founders mentioned that they seek to build their brand on the lines of the US giant Trader Joe's. They also expressed an interest in expanding the online presence of their business.

In order to achieve this goal, they sought an investment of ₹50 lakh in exchange of 1 per cent equity, putting the business' valuation at ₹50 crore. They further predicted sales worth ~₹10 crore for 2024.

Upon hearing this, Bahl asked them why do they want to expand online since Trader Joe's sells solely via offline stores. Replying to this, the founders said that they want to be where their customers, while citing Patanjali and Organic India as their rivals.

boAt's Aman Gupta offered the founders a deal-- ₹50 lakh in exchange for 3 per cent equity and 2 per cent royalty till he makes twice his principal investment. On this offer by Aman, Azhar Iqubal decided to partner.

It was then that Bahl decided to offer the Kiwi Kisan Window founders a deal they could not refuse. “When I’m interested in a business, I go all in,” Bahl said while making the offer.

He offered them a huge deal of ₹2.5 crore in exchange of 10 per cent equity, 5 times the founders' initial ask. The founders agreed to the deal immediately. While handing the cheque to the founders, Kunal said: "I will help you become Trader Joe's of India."

The founders also mentioned that they met each through activist meet-ups and started the brand a few years back.  Among the top products that Kiwi Kisan Window sells through their physical stores are kahwa from Kashmir, spices from Kerala, tea from Assam, Himalayan cow ghee, among others.

SUGAR Cosmetics' Vineeta Singh and OYO Rooms founder Ritesh Agarwal backed out of the deal. Vineeta was of the opinion that the brand's numbers were too good to be true and that scalability could pose a challenge.

Ritesh said that they had pretty low volumes at the store level. Aman Gupta suggested the founders to work on their branding and focus on online.