Last updated on 7 January 2025. Image Credits: SonyLiv.
Here, you can find everything about Indugle’s pitch on Shark Tank India, its founder Karan Bhangay, and the latest updates about the company!
Indulge on Shark Tank India
A good business even with a bad pitch can go wrong, as Indulge left the tank with no deal.
Here are the key details about their pitch on Shark Tank:
| Name | Indulge |
| Founders | Karan Bhangay, Advita Bihani |
| Episode | Season 4 Episode 1 |
| Deal | No Deal |
| Shark | N/A |
| Status | In-business |
‘Indulge’ in a digital concierge service for high-net-worth individuals in India. Since it is “digital,” the service can service its clients anytime, anywhere, and is available in 180 countries.
So, if you are rich, they can do all your work from restaurant reservations to travel booking to getting tickets for the next cricket match. The clients can connect through WhatsApp and/or download their mobile app.
What to learn from them?
There are 3 major lessons from this company:
- Need in the Market: As India grows, there will be a rise of rich people and they will need concierge services.
- Digital Services: What makes the business stand out is it serves the clients digitally, which is cost-efficient as well as more convenient for the digital-savvy Indians. Also, the subscription model makes it easier for both the customer and the business to work.
- Scalability: Even when the services were said to be great, there was no sudden growth in the client base. This means acquiring new clients is more difficult than it seems.
Vineeta pointed out this scalability issue and I think she was completely bang on. Also, retenting the existing customers will be tough as one mishap might result in cancellation directly.
Did Indulge get the deal on Shark Tank?
Founders were looking to get ₹50 lakhs for 1% equity. The goal is to reach 10,000 clients, not just in India, but also in London, Dubai and other metropolitan cities. They also want to attract global talent with this money.
The founders were too confident in their services and the idea looked promising. Everything started well but soon the numbers came in the way.
There were only 183 customers at the time of the pitch and even most of them were using an older subscription model of the company. There is no significant growth in the customers when there are at least 12,000 Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UHNIs) in India.
Anupam was the first to see the holes in the systems and he even said there is no ‘credibility’. That’s a big thing to say.
But the big thing was confusion that clouded the pitch completely, as said by Namita.
There was only Peyush who seemed interested till the end, but he even went out. Why? Because he later found out that Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamanth had some stake in the company. More confusion and peyush refused to offer anything!
Finally, Indulge didn’t get a deal on Shark Tank India.
About The Founders
Karan Bhangay is the main founder of Indulge, along with co-founder Adivta Bihani.
Karan is a college dropout who has himself ‘indulged’ in many different businesses. His magazine was Avantgarde, made of HNIs. Then, with the rise of social media, he pivoted to events for such HNIs at The Indian Luxury Expo (TILE).
He also had two more startups: Hand Painted Stories for Gift and The Earth Love, an online marketplace for organic products. He finally started this concierge business in 2022.
I also found that they also have solid relationships with premium brands such as Hermes, Rolex, Wimbledon, FIFA, and Gucci.
After The Tank Update
As we saw, the membership tiers had been a key topic for them not getting any offers.
So, to increase their addressable market size, they have introduced a cheaper membership plan. This plan will be limited to India. It can bring new revenue streams and work well for a developing nation like ours.
Just for a fun fact, celebrity comic Tanmay Bhatt is one of their clients:
By the way, other businesses featured in this episode were FAE Beauty and Confect Fondant.
Takeaways
So now you know about Indulge’s pitch on Shark Tank India. I believe the business has a lot of scope but they need to cater to a big market size.
And if you don’t know who I am? I am Ranish Chauhan a.k.a. Fulmino Fan, a Fan of the Shark Tank show.