Anupam Mittal denies Sony funding Shark Tank contestants: ‘Amitabh Bachchan took half their money, Kapil took the rest’

Shaadi.com founder and CEO Anupam Mittal, who is seen as one of the ‘sharks’ on Shark Tank India, denied speculation that they invest Sony Entertainment Television’s money in the businesses of the contestants instead of their own. He joked that the channel has no money left after paying Amitabh Bachchan for Kaun Banega Crorepati and Kapil Sharma for The Kapil Sharma Show.

On Shark Tank India, budding entrepreneurs present their business pitches to a panel of successful entrepreneurs or ‘sharks’, who are willing to invest their money, time and expertise to help the company reach the next level. The show airs on Sony Entertainment Television from Monday to Friday at 9 pm.

In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Anupam denied rumours of the ‘sharks’ not spending their own money. “Dekho, aisa kaise ho sakta hai? Aisa toh ho hi nahi sakta hai. Channel ke paas jitne paise the, aadhe Bachchan saab le gaye, aadhe Kapil Sharma le gaye. Channel ke paas toh kuch bacha hi nahi, toh humko kya denge? Kaash aisa hota (How can this happen? It cannot. Whatever money the channel had, they gave half to Amitabh Bachchan and spent the rest on Kapil Sharma. The channel has nothing left to give us. I wish this was the case),” he said.

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Anupam joked that they are constantly reminding the channel ‘humari dihaadi badhao (please increase our daily wages)’, adding that they are paid a ‘nominal amount’. He said that Shark Tank India was getting so much love from the audience because of its ‘authenticity’. “You cannot fake it for so long,” he said.

Shark Tank India features six other ‘sharks’ – BharatPe co-founder and managing director Ashneer Grover, SUGAR cosmetics co-founder and CEO Vineeta Singh, boAt co-founder and CMO Aman Gupta, Lenskart co-founder and CEO Peyush Bansal, Emcure Pharmaceuticals executive director Namita Thapar and MamaEarth co-founder Ghazal Alagh.