The Sass Bar

Rishika Nayak Shetty is Season 1's most internationally educated yet domestically purposeful founder — a Mumbaikar who earned a BBA from Northumbria University (UK) and completed her master's degree from Istituto Marangoni in London (one of the world's most prestigious fashion and design schools), returned to India, started a soap-making business from scratch in 2019 with just ₹25,000 of her own savings, and built it to ₹30 lakh annual revenue and ₹7 lakh monthly — entirely bootstrapped, entirely self-taught in soap chemistry, and driven by a founding insight that luxury gifting in India was badly underserved. Rishika's story — from starting with just ₹25,000 to pitching on national TV — resonates with India's new generation of creative entrepreneurs. Wikipedia The ₹25,000 founding capital — enough for initial soap-making ingredients, basic moulds, and packaging — is Season 24's most capital-efficient founding investment.

The Sass Bar is India's first artisanal dessert-soap gifting brand — handcrafting luxury, vegan, SLS-and-paraben-free soaps designed to look indistinguishably like desserts (macarons, cupcakes, popsicles, waffles, ice cream scoops, donuts, éclairs) using cocoa butter, shea butter, skin-safe colorants, and biodegradable glitter — presented as premium gift boxes for birthdays, anniversaries, corporate gifting, festive occasions, and weddings — delivering the visual delight of luxury gifting at accessible Indian price points.

Amount Asked: ₹40 lakhs Equity Offered: 8% Implied Pre-Money Valuation: ₹5 crore

The Sass Bar's pitch opened Episode 24 — the first of only three pitches in the episode — with Season 1's most memorable product reveal moment: a tray full of what appeared to be beautifully presented desserts, placed before the Sharks, who immediately reached for them and were stopped with the reveal that these were soaps. The Sass Bar mainly creates soap bars that look like food. Rishika wanted to make this a gift brand — so that one can gift someone a piece of soap as a gift, which looks nice and smells nice. Rishika asked the Sharks what they would bring to the table — a smart, confident question that immediately shifted the negotiating dynamic from founder-seeking-investment to founder-selecting-investor. The "what will you bring to the table?" question — asked before any offer had been made — was one of Season 1's most strategically astute pitch moves from a first-time founder.

Vineeta Singh was the first to exit — on focus and product strategy grounds. Vineeta said she didn't find Rishika's choice of business right and went out. She felt the company should manufacture one hero product and have that single product clock sales of ₹10–15 lakhs every month. Peyush Bansal exited on clarity grounds. Peyush said he believed in the product and suggested mouth marketing rather than looking for an investment, and moved out — as he didn't find clarity in Rishika's words. Ghazal Alagh was genuinely impressed with the product ingredients and quality. Ghazal Alagh was really impressed because the soap ingredients were very natural and healthy. Anupam Mittal led the deal-making with a conditional offer. Anupam and Ghazal both felt Rishika was spreading too much.

Anupam and Ghazal both made an offer conditionally — Rishika must focus only on soaps. Anupam reduced the offered stake from 40% to 35% for ₹40 lakhs when Rishika countered at 40% equity. The deal was then raised to ₹50 lakhs for 35% equity and closed there. The negotiation resulted in the founders receiving more capital than they had asked for (₹50 lakhs vs. ₹40 lakhs) in exchange for more equity than they had offered (35% vs. 8%) — a 4.4x equity cost for a 25% capital uplift.

Deal Secured: YES — CONFIRMED AND FORMALLY CLOSED Investment Amount:- ₹50 lakhs equity + ₹50 lakhs debt Equity Given:- 10%