Proost

Vijay P Sharma and Tarun Bhargava founded Proost. They come from the family which does not drink. Vijay has background in Engineering and graduated in 1982. He worked internationally in his previous job where he started as trainee and worked his way up to CEO position before leaving that company. Vijay P Sharma is Season 2's most ironically positioned beverage founder an engineer from a non-drinking family who spent decades in international corporate roles rising from trainee to CEO, then returned to India and built a premium beer brand. His personal non-consumption of alcohol did not prevent him from identifying the commercial opportunity in India's premium beer segment with the rigour of an experienced corporate executive.

Proost is a made-in-India premium beer brand producing strong beer (the dominant Indian consumption category), light beer, and wheat crafted beer, positioned between mass-market economy beers and imported premium beers on both price and quality. The brand's name "Proost" is the Dutch word for "cheers," communicating an international premium aspiration while remaining grounded in Indian manufacturing and pricing.

Amount Asked: ₹1 crore Equity Offered: 0.75% Implied Pre-Money Valuation: ₹133 crore

Vijay and Tarun walked into Season 2 Episode 42 as India's most personally paradoxical brewery founders — two men from non-drinking families presenting a beer brand to five investors. The pitch opened with the market opportunity framing: India's ₹65,000 crore beer market dominated by strong beer brands, with no significant made-in-India premium alternative that could compete with international brands on quality while matching domestic brands on price. The revenue trajectory ₹77 lakhs to ₹7.5 crore in four years, with a ₹35 crore projection for the current year — was Season 2 Episode 42's most dramatic growth curve presented in the beverage category, reflecting both the brand's organic distribution expansion and the Indian premium beer category's growing momentum.

Peyush Bansal exited on value-add grounds Lenskart's optical retail expertise provides no strategic leverage in a state-licensed beer distribution business. Namita Thapar exited on personal and sector grounds she is not interested in the beer business. Anupam Mittal exited on opportunity cost grounds his comment that "some other founder can use his money better" reflects a comparative return assessment. Aman Gupta exited on scalability ceiling concerns he thought growth will be an issue after certain scale. Amit Jain exited citing personal disinterest the automotive finance and marketplace ecosystem that CarDekho operates in has no overlap with state-licensed beverage distribution

No Shark made a formal offer. All five exited before entering negotiation. The combination of the ₹133 crore implied valuation (too high for a regulated beverage business), the alcohol category personal concerns (Namita), the value-add impossibility (Peyush, Amit), the scalability ceiling (Aman), and the comparative opportunity cost assessment (Anupam) created a unanimous exit without any offer being attempted.

Vijay P Sharma and Tarun Bhargava left Shark Tank India Season 2 Episode 42 without any investment. All five Sharks declined not primarily because of product quality or business model concerns, but because of the specific combination of the alcohol category's regulatory complexity, the valuation's disconnect from current metrics, and the individual Sharks' inability to add strategic value to a state-by-state licensed beverage distribution business.

The ₹8.5 crore post-Shark Tank raise confirmed by CNBCTV18 is one of Season 2's most credibly sourced post-episode funding rounds. CNBCTV18's business journalism credibility gives this funding report more verification weight than social media claims. Proost continues operating with its 1,800 retail outlet distribution network across five states, 70 lakh plus units sold, and expanding brand presence. The premium made-in-India beer category has grown significantly since 2023, with urban Indian consumers increasingly interested in quality domestic brands as an alternative to both international imports and mass-market domestic players.