Shark Tank India 2: Viewers disappointed as Sharks reject Vineeta Singh's rival brand Recode's pitch

Shark Tank India season 2 premiered on Monday, with Anupam Mittal of Shaddi.com, Namita Thapar of Emcure Pharmaceuticals Limited, Peyush Bansal of Lenskart, Aman Gupta of Boat, Vineeta Singh of Sugar Cosmetics, and Amit Jain of Cardekho.com as sharks ready to invest in business ventures from the pitchers. The first episode saw three pitches, one of which belonged to the makeup brand Recode, which was rejected mainly because it was a competitor brand for Vineeta Singh.

What happened in Episode 1 of Shark Tank India 2

The founders of Recode Everyday Makeup pitched their business to the sharks, impressing them with their pitch. In this pitch, Dheeraj and Rahul of the brand had asked for Rs 1 crore for 1 per cent equity, claiming that the brand was very economical and was made in just 2 hours. They also went on to elaborate about organising makeup classes for students in a 5-star hotel with free lunch.

But, despite the impressive pitch, no one invested in the company. Vineeta, who owns a makeup brand too, was checking out their products and seemed impressed with the quality of the crayon. She told the duo that she had not heard of the company, but the Recode duo pointed out that her company, Sugar, was following them on social media. She went on to add, "Let me first clear, I am the gunda of this industry."

Aman and Namita rejected Recode for the sake of friendship, as this brand was a rival to Sugar. However, Anupam and Peyush felt that this should not be the sole reason for rejecting a pitch. While Aman applauded their effort but wasn't impressed by the packaging of one of the products, Peyush asked them to work on their branding.

How did the audience react?

This move did not go well with the viewers, and they called out the sharks as friendship should not be a reason for rejecting the efforts of a company.

Many users took to Twitter to express their thoughts about Recode's pitch rejection. One user said, "Recode makeup deserved better than this. 15 cr FYI 21-22 with 6% PAT. Are you kidding me? Making stupid faces and laughing on founders? Horrible. I bet you this brand will beat Sugar cosmetics in 5 years."

Another user said, "@SonyTV After Watching #SharkTankIndiaS2 Feeling very sad for #Recode These guys had very good Sale's but they didn't get any offer for Sharks. Wtf isko nahi mila matlab kisko milega. After watching this feels program is biased They are not Sharks like USA They are family"

Many users also missed the presence of Ashneer Grover.

"No entrepreneurs from cosmetic, pharmaceutical and smart wearable will be getting funding this season 😂😂😂 Major missing @Ashneer_Grover," said a user.

The users also asked the channel to bring back Ashneer Grover.

A user said "To be very honest without @Ashneer_Grover today episode is null and void no good learning , What @Ashneer_Grover teach is meaningful and life lessons #ashneergrover #SharkTankIndiaS2 bring back Ashneer Grover"