Rooftop App

Kartik Gaggar, the Founder and CEO of Rooftop is a Chartered Accountant and has completed an Executive Education Programme in Business Administration. Before starting Rooftop, Kartik worked as an Audit Associate at PwC and then as a Management Consultant in BFSI FinTech companies. Wikipedia Kartik Gaggar is Season 3's most mission-driven Indian art preservation founder a Chartered Accountant and former PwC consultant who recognised during the COVID lockdown that India's 200 plus traditional art forms were dying because artisans had no digital platform to teach, sell, or connect with art enthusiasts. He had previously founded Rajasthan Studio (a travel experiences company connecting tourists with offbeat art locations and workshops) and Kamaai Capital (an investment firm). When we walked into the Shark Tank India set, we had a dream. We stood before some of the most celebrated minds in the country, armed with a vision to revolutionise how Indian art is experienced, taught, and shared.

Rooftop is India's most comprehensive online Indian art learning platform connecting art enthusiasts with 3,000 plus traditional artists (including Padma Shri and National Award winners) through live video classes, pre-recorded courses, onsite workshops, and a community app covering 200 plus Indian art forms. The platform provides artisans with digital income streams while preserving traditional art knowledge that was at risk of disappearing as younger generations moved away from ancestral art practices. The Rooftop app provides information on different types and the history of arts, with various courses available on various Indian art forms. These courses are created by national award-winning artists. Additionally, you can book online and offline art workshops through the app.

Amount Asked: ₹2 crore Equity Offered: 4% Implied Pre-Money Valuation: ₹50 crore

Kartik walked into Season 3 Episode 9 with a genuinely noble mission preserving India's vanishing art heritage through technology and a platform that had already partnered with 3,000 artists and served 60,000 workshop customers. The problem he identified was real and urgent: India has more than 200 traditional art forms, but they are disappearing because artisans cannot sustain their livelihoods and younger generations are not learning the craft. However, the pitch execution did not match the mission's clarity. The Sharks consistently found the business model confusing was Rooftop an EdTech platform (subscription courses), a marketplace (connecting artists and buyers), a travel company (onsite workshop experiences), or an art community app? The founder's attempt to present all four value propositions simultaneously created the confusion that every Shark identified.

Vineeta Singh was the first to exit, calling the business "very confusing." She appreciated the branding and mission but found no product-market fit demonstrated in the pitch and said the founder was unable to explain what the product actually was. Namita Thapar exited citing the business model as unscalable. She noted that if Rooftop moved toward product sales, competition was too intense, and the current model could not grow to the size needed for venture returns. Aman Gupta exited stating the founder had "complicated everything" and was giving vague answers. He did not understand the core mission of the startup as communicated during the pitch. Anupam Mittal delivered the most pointed exit questioning whether the founder had the business skills needed to execute the vision. Deepinder Goyal (Zomato guest Shark) was the only Shark who showed genuine initial interest, calling it "a cool business if there are no established brands for teaching art."

No Shark made a formal offer. All five exited before entering negotiation. The unanimous pitch communication failure every Shark citing confusion about the business model, vague answers, and unclear financials prevented any investment thesis from forming despite every Shark acknowledging the mission's nobility and the art preservation problem's genuine urgency.

Kartik Gaggar left Shark Tank India Season 3 Episode 9 without any investment. All Sharks declined unanimously citing business model confusion and unclear communication rather than mission or market concerns. The gap between Rooftop's genuinely important cultural preservation mission and the pitch's inability to communicate a clear, fundable business model was the specific failure that prevented investment.

Rooftop has made many changes after the pitch by reducing the acquisition cost and focusing more on growing active users. In a LinkedIn post, Kartik mentioned: "As we go forward, Rooftop's focus is on scaling, profitability, and making art accessible." Sharktankindiaclub Rooftop published a detailed one-year-anniversary blog post on their website describing how the Shark Tank experience transformed the company's approach reducing customer acquisition costs, focusing on active user growth, and simplifying the business model to address the exact confusion that the Sharks had identified. The blog's tone grateful for "stinging but valuable feedback" demonstrates the specific growth mindset that converts investor rejection into commercial improvement. For us, Shark Tank was a great opportunity to learn and grow, and that's exactly what we're doing! We are adding momentum to a movement that has only just begun! A movement that puts Indian art on top or, should we say, on Rooftop!