GrowIt

Akshay and Saurabh Agarwal are Season 2's most supply-chain-advantaged agritech founders third-generation members of a family that has been in the packaging and plastics business for decades. Akshay's Masters in Plastic Engineering from the University of Massachusetts gave him the technical depth to understand how plastic mulch films work at the material science level, while the family's Alpha Plastomers Private Limited provided the manufacturing infrastructure to produce protective farming products at competitive costs from day one. The founding insight was commercially precise: only 2 percent of Indian farmers use protective farming techniques despite these techniques increasing crop yields by 50 percent and cutting water usage dramatically.

GROWiT is a Gujarat-based startup that offers innovative agri-tech solutions to increase farm output through protective farming. Protective farming is an agricultural practice where crops are grown in a controlled environment by regulating temperature, humidity, and moisture. GROWiT sells protective farming products directly to farmers. It is a direct-to-farmer company. The startup manufactures and sells protective farming equipment that includes mulch film, shade nets, sticky traps, vermi beds, and agri wires. Through their mobile application, they also guide farmers in climate-smart agriculture to enhance farm productivity.

Amount Asked: ₹1 crore Equity Offered: 1% Implied Pre-Money Valuation: ₹100 crore

The founders conveyed that India is an agricultural country and our production capacity is so good that we export grains to other countries. But our yield is so meagre compared to other countries. For instance, India and China grow 60 lakh tons of cotton per year, and India needs 1.25 crore hectares of field to do that, but China needs just one-fourth of that area. That is because China has a plethora of options in technology for farming. The mulch film demonstration was Season 2 Episode 40's most practically impactful product display showing the physical film, explaining its application process (laying it over soil rows with holes for plant stems), and citing a watermelon farmer case study where mulch film increased yield from 8 to 12 tonnes per acre while cutting water and fertiliser costs.

Anupam Mittal exited the agritech direct-to-farmer distribution model was outside his consumer internet investment expertise, and he could not identify where Shaadi.com's network would add specific value. Amit Jain exited on domain expertise grounds CarDekho's automotive marketplace provides no strategic overlap with agricultural protective farming products. Aman Gupta exited with the most commercially pragmatic reasoning there was nothing specific that boAt's consumer electronics brand-building expertise could contribute to a B2F (business-to-farmer) agritech supply chain company. Peyush Bansal initially questioned the vision size. Peyush thought the ₹300 crore revenue vision the founders shared was a small vision and they should aim for ₹100 crores of revenue first. Namita Thapar was the most passionately aligned Shark by far her Emcure Pharmaceuticals rural healthcare distribution networks, her experience selling to India's rural population, and her personal commitment to India's agricultural sector made her immediately enthusiastic.

Namita offered ₹50 lakhs for 1% equity and ₹50 lakhs debt at 10% interest at ₹50 crore valuation. The founders gave a counter offer to increase the valuation to ₹75 crores, which Namita refused because they are making losses currently. The deal was secured at Namita's original offer of ₹50 lakhs for 1% equity and the rest ₹50 lakh debt at 10% interest at ₹50 crore valuation. Peyush joined Namita's offer at the same terms, making it a two-Shark deal.

Akshay and Saurabh Agarwal accepted Namita Thapar and Peyush Bansal's joint offer of ₹50 lakhs for 1% equity plus ₹50 lakhs debt at 10% interest at ₹50 crore valuation. The founders' attempt to negotiate to ₹75 crore valuation was rejected by Namita on the grounds that a loss-making company cannot justify a higher valuation. The deal was confirmed and formally closed after the episode aired.

Our research in the company revealed that their Shark Tank India deal with Namita and Peyush was finalised and closed after the show aired. In October 2023, the founders shared that their sales have surged by 70 percent since their appearance on the show and they are finally EBITDA positive. Saurabh Agarwal added: "We recently developed and presented our new product to Namita ji. It is a soil testing device that provides valuable data on soil quality and recommendations in regional languages for crop selection." As of January 2024, the company is still in business and thriving. Saurabh shared that they have empowered over 10,000 farmers in 2023. The soil testing device development providing regional language recommendations for crop selection based on soil data represents GROWiT's evolution from a protective farming product supplier to a full-stack agri-intelligence platform. Connecting soil testing (input quality intelligence) with mulch film and shade netting (protective farming equipment) and the climate-smart agriculture app (decision support) creates an integrated farm productivity system rather than a product catalogue.