BENGALURU: The investors at Shark Tank are all B2C experts, they are good at selling imported products under Rs 3k to new consumers in tier two and tier three cities. It forms all of their core businesses. But they’re not experienced with innovation. One of them even asked me what ‘induction’ is,” says Sanandan Sudhir, founder of On2Cook, a food tech startup that sells a smart cooking device which promises to drastically cut down cooking time and make the process easier.
As a contestant on Season 1 of Shark Tank India, Sudhir sought Rs 1 crore in investment from the Sharks in exchange for one per cent equity in his company. But despite his best efforts, the Sharks weren’t convinced of the product that Sudhir had pitched them. But within months of the episode’s airing in early 2022, his start-up managed to get funded at the same valuation from a private angel investor.
More than six months later, On2Cook has moved past the prototype phase and has started to sell its products to enterprise customers and cloud kitchens. For nearly 10 years between the late ‘90s and the early ‘00s, Sudhir worked with GE Healthcare in Bengaluru, working on product development. It was at that time that he got the idea for a microwave cum stove that would eventually lead him to found On2Cook. After spending a decade prototyping the product with his own money, Sudhir finally found investors for his product in Hong Kong. But in recent years, amid strained Indo-Sino relations, he had to give up on that venture and start all over again in India. It was at that point he went on Shark Tank, hopeful of getting seed capital to start production on the product.
Sudhir believes that, unlike Western editions of the show, Shark Tank India features investors from a very specific business arena. “They should have at least one or two sharks, who are from the product business. How can anyone in B2C business understand the product business?” he wonders.
However, when asked about the recent controversy that the show has found itself in, with some contestants claiming that on-air promises of funding weren’t fulfilled, Sudhir comes to the show’s defence.
“Not everyone gets funded as promised on the show. One of the key reasons for that is sometimes the finances of the business might not hold up to the claims that the promoters might make at the show. Both the contestants and the Sharks sign contracts before the show, agreeing to fulfil whatever is promised on the show. While it’s not legally binding, the Sharks cannot just make promises willy-nilly and not go through with them,” he adds.
Currently, On2Cook has received patents for its product in the United States, United Kingdom and India, with patents pending in 30 more countries. Currently focused on selling to cloud kitchens, Sudhir hopes that soon On2Cook can sell directly to consumers, particularly younger, urban consumers who are increasingly reliant on food-delivery apps.