India Hemp and Co

Jayanti Bhattacharya (Co-founder, Bengaluru) is the operational face of India Hemp and Co — handling India-based sourcing, distribution, regulatory navigation, and customer community building. Her IIM Bangalore mentor (Gopal Rao Addanki) gives the company an academic and strategic advisory relationship that most small food-sector startups cannot access. Jayanti had to step out twice to consult her sister Shalini Bhattacharya and IIMB mentor Gopal Rao Addanki on call before declining the offer. Shalini Bhattacharya (Co-founder, Barcelona) brings European wellness market exposure — living in Spain gave her direct access to how hemp-based nutrition products were positioned, consumed, and regulated in a mature market where consumer education around hemp was already established. This cross-continental perspective informed India Hemp and Co's product range, which was built to international nutritional and quality standards from inception.

India Hemp and Co is India's pioneer premium hemp-based food brand — sourcing, processing, and selling hemp seeds, hemp protein powder, hemp seed oil, hemp trail mixes, hemp kombucha, and hemp pet treats, all derived from industrial hemp (not marijuana), positioned at the intersection of superfood nutrition, sustainability, and the emerging Indian wellness movement, with a zero-waste philosophy embedded throughout the supply chain.

Amount Asked: ₹50 lakhs Equity Offered: 4% Implied Pre-Money Valuation: ₹12.5 crore

Arriving after Mommy's Kitchen's warm grandmother-and-pizza charm with something far more educationally demanding: a category that required the Sharks to first understand what hemp actually is, separate it from every cultural and legal association with marijuana, and then evaluate a food business built around an ingredient that most Indians had never consciously eaten. In the Tank, the Sharks had unending questions about the brand and hemp in general. Aman Gupta even questioned if hemp could be sold in markets. Jayanti defined the brand's stance, shared hemp's benefits, and cleared hemp-related misconceptions with her pitch. The pitch was as much an education session as a business presentation — Jayanti had to simultaneously establish hemp's nutritional credentials, distinguish industrial hemp from marijuana, navigate the regulatory landscape, present the business metrics, and defend a valuation that was clearly ahead of the current revenue reality.

Peyush Bansal exited citing category mismatch with his portfolio expertise. Peyush went out of the negotiations as there wasn't much he could help the entrepreneurs with in terms of technology. Aman Gupta made the most commercially revealing exit sequence — he wanted to offer but placed an unusual pre-condition that generated significant discussion. Aman wanted to offer and put a condition that Jayanti would not seek offers from other Sharks after his offer, which she refused. Aman goes out of the deal. Ashneer Grover exited with the most contentious comment of the pitch. Ashneer goes out because he added that there was not an established market for this product. Anupam Mittal raised the SKU complexity concern before exiting — the mixed human food and pet food product range under one brand created consumer confusion without the revenue scale to justify the brand complexity. Namita Thapar was the most genuinely engaged and pharmaceutically informed Shark.

Four Sharks exited without making offers. Only Namita Thapar made an offer: ₹20 lakhs for 10% equity plus the remaining ₹30 lakhs as debt at 12% interest — effectively restructuring the ₹50 lakh ask into a hybrid equity-debt package while significantly marking down the valuation from ₹12.5 crore implied to ₹2 crore implied on the equity portion. Jayanti takes a moment to think and comes back to counter, to which Namita says her offer is non-negotiable. Jayanti refused that offer and went out of the deal without a deal. Jayanti had to step out twice to consult her sister Shalini Bhattacharya and IIMB mentor Gopal Rao Addanki on call before declining the offer.

On-Screen Deal: NO DEAL — Founder declined Namita's offer on valuation grounds