India’s favourite startup show, Shark Tank India, began streaming the brand new season 3 on Monday at SonyLIV. This time, the show has added six fresh faces to the jury panel with the familiar set of judges we’ve seen in the previous seasons.
This year’s panel includes the OGs – Aman Gupta, co-founder of boAT; Anupam Mittal, CEO and founder of Shaadi.com; Vineeta Singh, co-founder and CEO of Sugar Cosmetics; Namita Thapar, Executive Director (ED) of Emcure Pharmaceuticals; Amit Jain CEO and co-founder of CarDekho and Peyush Bansal CEO and co-founder of Lenskart.
Moreover, the jury panel includes six additional entrepreneurs from across different industries. While we know all about the original judges, here’s everything you need to know about the new judges in Shark Tank India 3:
1. Deepinder Goyal
Deepinder Goyal is the co-founder and CEO of Zomato, one of India’s leading restaurant aggregators and food delivery companies. Goyal is an IIT Delhi alumnus who has also co-authored a book titled CULTure at Zomato: How to Rewire Your Brain for Greatness with Ashish Goel and Naina Sahni.
Previously, Goyal worked as a Senior Associate Consultant at Bain and Company for almost four years, following which he co-established Zomato, then called FoodieBay, with his colleague Pankaj Chaddah. It is reported that Goyal is a billionaire with a net worth of ₹2,030 crores. While Goyal reportedly has a 5.5% stake in Zomato, he’s also invested in platforms like Bira91, HyperTrack, and more.
2. Ritesh Agarwal
Ritesh Agarwal is the founder and CEO of OYO Rooms. He launched Oravel Stays in 2012 as an Indian counterpart of Airbnb. The company was later renamed OYO Rooms.
Agarwal has had humble beginnings and is an engineering college dropout. Apparently, it was not college but the Thiel Fellowship that left a tremendous impact on his learning curve and offered him a grant of $100,000. For the unversed, the Fellowship by billionaire Peter Thiel offers a select few students under 22 years of age a grant, resources, and guidance to help them pursue work like launching a startup or undertaking scientific research. He utilised the grant to build his startup that became a unicorn in September 2018.
3. Radhika Gupta
Radhika Gupta is the MD & CEO at Edelweiss Mutual Fund. Born into a diplomat family, Gupta’s formative years were spent growing up across the four continents – Asia, Africa, America, and Europe. In her words, she was “born with a crooked neck”. She’s an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania, where she completed her Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Computer Science. She’s also done another B.Sc. degree in Economics with Finance and Management as her concentration from The Wharton School.
She’s worked with a host of reputed organisations like Microsoft, McKinsey and Company, and AQR Capital Management, before co-founding Forefront Capital Management, which was acquired by Edelweiss Financial Services in 2014. A 2023 report by Lifestyle Asia claims her net worth is ₹41 crore. Gupta has also authored a book titled Limitless: The Power of Unlocking Your True Potential.
4. Azhar Iqubal
Azhar Iqubal is the CEO and co-founder of Inshorts. He’s an IIT Delhi dropout who founded his company with his classmates Anunay Arunav and Deepit Purkayasth in 2015. Their idea was to convey simple and readable news within 60 words. And it was a big hit.
As of a November 2023 report by Financial Express, the app records more than 10 million monthly users and the company is worth ₹3,700 crores.
5. Ronnie Screwvala
Ronnie Screwvala is the chairperson and founder of upGrad. He’s both a visionary entrepreneur and a film producer, having founded firms like UTV, Unilazer Ventures, and Swades Foundation. He’s completed his education from Cathedral and John Connon School, and Sydenham College.
Screwvala has authored a book titled Dream with Your Eyes Open: An Entrepreneurial Journey. Because of his significant contributions across different industries like media and entertainment, investments, and ed-tech, he’s been mentioned in eminent lists like 2008 Esquire’s List of the 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century and 2009 Time 100 Most Influential People in the world.
6. Varun Dua
Varun Dua is the founder and CEO of Acko Insurance. Previously, he has worked as a trainee at Leo Burnett Advertising, a marketing manager at Tata AIG Life Insurance, and Franklin Templeton Investments. He has significant experience in the insurance industry.
Prior to Acko, Dua was the co-founder of GlitterBug Technologies. According to his LinkedIn profile, Dua has completed his education at the University of Mumbai and MICA, Ahmedabad.
These judges come with diverse backgrounds and extensive experience and expertise. At the moment, their inclusion sure seems to bring interesting insights. And given that Shark Tank India has had a substantial influence in bringing startup conversations to the forefront in Indian households, we can expect an exciting season.