HoneyVeda

Kashyap Joshi and Hardik Joshi are Season 2's most environmentally committed brother-founders two siblings from Gujarat who began beekeeping as a personal weekend hobby rooted in their interest in sustainable agriculture, discovered the commercial and environmental opportunity in India's honey market, and built a brand mission around harvesting honey without harming bees using traditional and ethical apiculture practices. They have trained over 200 farmers and tribal members in beekeeping. The farmer and tribal training programme is HoneyVeda's most socially significant non-revenue activity creating sustainable livelihoods in rural India by teaching communities to maintain bee colonies, produce honey, and participate in HoneyVeda's supply chain as independent beekeepers.

HoneyVeda is India's first honey brand to explicitly position its products on cruelty-free, bee-welfare-focused apiculture producing raw, unprocessed, unheated, single-flora and multi-flora honeys sourced from across India, preserving the unique flavour, aroma, and therapeutic properties of each regional honey variety. It generates single-vegetable honey (munka), preserving the peculiar flavour, purity, and perfume of exceptionally therapeutic honey in its most natural state.

Amount Asked: ₹75 lakhs Equity Offered: 7.5% Implied Pre-Money Valuation: ₹10 crore

Kashyap and Hardik walked into Season 2 Episode 22 as the most environmentally grounded food brand pitch of the week. They brought jars of HoneyVeda's various raw honey varieties — Himalayan Forest, Ajwain, Fennel, Eucalyptus — and invited the Sharks to taste and compare. The tasting made the most immediate product quality communication possible: raw, unprocessed honey with distinct regional flavour profiles is immediately distinguishable from commercial mass-market honey. The pitch highlighted three simultaneous commercial claims: environmental (protecting India's declining bee population through ethical apiculture), social (training 200 plus rural farmers and tribal members in beekeeping), and commercial (premium raw honey at accessible prices, growing revenue year over year).

Aman Gupta was the first to exit and the most direct. Aman goes out of the deal because he is simply not interested in the product. Namita Thapar exited on strategic clarity grounds. Namita comments that the company has not yet figured out what they wanted and they are doing too many things therefore she also steps out of the negotiations Peyush Bansal exited citing commercial maturity. Peyush added that it's too early for an investment therefore he also goes out of the deal. Anupam Mittal was drawn to the founders' genuine passion for the bee welfare mission and the premium raw honey category's growth potential as India's health-conscious consumer segment expanded. Vineeta Singh found the sustainability mission and the pure honey quality aligned with her broader interest in ethical, natural consumer products.

Anupam and Vineeta came together to offer ₹50 Lakhs for 20% of the company and ₹25 Lakhs as debt for 12% interest. The founders take a moment to think and come back to counter at 15% for ₹50 Lakh and interest-free debt. Anupam and Vineeta rejected both elements of the counter — they held firm at 20% equity and 12% interest on the debt. The founders accepted the original offer.

Kashyap Joshi and Hardik Joshi accepted Anupam Mittal and Vineeta Singh's joint offer of ₹50 lakhs for 20% equity plus ₹25 lakhs debt at 12% interest, valuing HoneyVeda at ₹2.5 crore post-deal. Despite countering at 15% equity with interest-free debt, the Sharks held their position on both equity and debt terms and the founders accepted. The deal was confirmed and formally closed after the episode aired.