Find Your Kicks

Simardeep Singh, Harshdeep Singh, and Danish Chawla are three of Season 1's youngest founders — all 24 years old at pitch time, all from Ludhiana, Punjab, and all childhood friends whose shared passion for sneaker culture became the commercial foundation of a business that none of them had formal training to build but all of them had the community knowledge to grow. In October 2020, amid a world transformed by the pandemic and a surge in digital consumption, three friends from Ludhiana, Simardeep Singh, Harshdeep Singh, and Danish Chawla, set an inspiring example by reshaping sneaker culture in India with their skills and hard work. They started their venture as an Instagram page called Find Your Kicks India (FYKI) to create a platform where Indian sneaker enthusiasts could buy and sell limited-edition sneakers without the fear of counterfeits. At a time when global hype around drops like Nike Air Jordan 1 and Adidas Yeezy was growing rapidly, India lacked a structured, reliable resale

Find Your Kicks India is India's premier sneaker resale marketplace — an authentication-first platform connecting buyers seeking limited-edition, hyped, or rare sneakers with verified resellers, operating initially through Instagram with a subscription model for resellers, and expanding into a full website and mobile app ecosystem, targeting India's rapidly growing sneakerhead culture.

Amount Asked: ₹50 lakhs Equity Offered: 10% Implied Pre-Money Valuation: ₹5 crore

The energy of Indian streetwear culture. Three young men from Ludhiana, visibly comfortable in their brand identity, walked in wearing the sneakers they sold — the pitch was the product, the founders were the customer. Namita starts the discussion by welcoming the Sharks and telling them that her family is full of "Sneakerheads." This is an upcoming business. The pitch established the market problem precisely: when Nike or Adidas drops a limited-edition sneaker in a flash sale that sells out in minutes, Indian sneaker enthusiasts who missed the drop have nowhere reliable to buy it. The WhatsApp groups, individual Instagram sellers, and grey market sources that existed were unverified, prone to counterfeits, and offered no size consistency. FYKI's authentication-first marketplace solved all three. The subscription model — resellers pay to list, FYKI earns from both subscription revenue and facilitation margins.

Namita Thapar led the engagement, opening with the disclosure that her family were sneakerheads — the most relatable possible personal connection a Shark can make to a pitch. Her initial offer (with Ashneer) at 30% was the competitive entry point. Ashneer Grover connected the business to BharatPe's PostPe platform immediately — EMI financing for high-ticket sneakers could both increase buy-side affordability and create a financial product synergy within the Shark's portfolio. Aman Gupta was enthusiastic about the category while expressing doubts about execution capability. Aman thinks that the sneakers market is crazy but doubts that they can execute. Anupam Mittal's analysis of the pitch is worth quoting in full for its commercial candour. Anupam discusses the opportunity for a Shark in their business. He tells that a Shark naturally invests in a business that can give 100x weighted returns. Peyush Bansal brought Lenskart's marketplace expertise to the table — the optician's success

Namita makes the first offer, bringing Ashneer along, offering ₹50 lakhs for 30% of the company. Aman gives an offer on behalf of all five Sharks — everyone will bring their expertise for ₹50 lakhs at 25% equity. At first, the two Sharks — Ashneer Grover and Namita — gave an offer of ₹50 lakhs at 30% equity. Later, impressed with their pitch and sales, all the Sharks gave a counteroffer of ₹50 lakhs for 25% equity. The super trio of Find Your Kicks India accepted the offer. The negotiation compressed quickly: opening two-Shark offer at 30% → All-Five-Shark coalition at 25% → founders accept. The founders moved from their 10% ask to 25% — accepting 2.5x more equity dilution than they had proposed — in exchange for the extraordinary strategic value of having all five Sharks simultaneously as investors, mentors, and network providers.

Final Accepted Deal ₹50L for 25% — All Five Sharks