‘They just wanted to go home’: NOOE founders accuse Vinita and Anupam of trying to rush Shark Tank deal

Premium lifestyle stationery brand NOOE bagged one of the highest deals on Shark Tank India 4 so far. Although the evaluation seemed lucrative, the brand’s founders said in a recent interaction that their experience with the offer was not pleasant at all.

NOOE received an investment of Rs 5 lakh crore from Lenskart’s Peyush Bansal in lieu of 51 per cent equity, valuing the company at Rs 9.8 lakh crore.

The brand’s founders, Piyush Suri and Nitika Pandey, said that the “sharks” Vinita Singh and Anupam Mittal tried to rush the deal through simply because they wanted to return home. They explained that they were trying to negotiate a deal and Aman was out, so the two sharks just got up and said there was no deal.

“We were trying to negotiate a deal and Aman was out, so they both got up and said there was no deal and the door started opening. Then I went back to Piyush and said we were not done negotiating with him. That’s when he closed the door and they sat down again,” Nitika told The Indian Express.

She added that while she realizes they were out for 14 hours, they tried to rush the deal and she felt it was a loss for NOOE’s founders.

“If they were out of the deal, they just wanted to go home, so we had to stand up for that. If we hadn’t spoken up, we would have missed an opportunity.”

Its co-founder Piyush said he sympathizes with sharks as founders only have to pitch once but investors have to sit for two months and listen to nearly 12 hours of pitches.

Suri also said that investors on the show have become very procedural and only ask questions to get the answers they want, but the time available to founders is not enough for anyone to decide whether the company is worth investing in or not.

Responding to Vineeta Singh’s comment ‘business gaddhe mein hai’, he said that he and Neetica wanted to see the brand and showcase their talent there.

“Business gadde main hai statement was very funny. Building a brand like this takes a lot of money and effort, and it can’t be profitable from day one. If they thought business was that bad, no one would have given us that much money and wouldn’t This is not charity, but an opportunity for them to enter.