In the first episode of 'Shark Tank India' Season 5, Minimalist's founder, Mohit Yadav, revealed that he took a Rs. 1 crore loan by mortgaging his house to build his company.
The most-awaited season of the hit television show, Shark Tank India, is finally here! The first episode of Shark Tank India Season 5 premiered on Monday, December 5, 2026, with five 'sharks' on the panel. Combining both old and new faces, it included renowned entrepreneurs like Namita Thapar, Anupam Mittal, Aman Gupta, Kunal Bahl, and lastly, Mohit Yadav. For the starting episode, we saw three amazing pitches made to the 'sharks'.
Among them, one that caught our eyes the most was an entrepreneur who came in with a children's clothing brand named Guugly Wuggly. The founder, Ravi Kumar Gupta, asked for Rs. 50 lakh in exchange for 5 percent equity of his company, valuing the business at 10 crore. His pitch, filled with humility, left everyone highly impressed.
The first episode of Shark Tank India Season 5 saw Lucknow resident, Ravi Kumar Gupta, walk in with his 5-year-old daughter to present his brand, Guugly Wuggly, in front of the panel of ‘sharks’. Guugly Wuggly is a kids' apparel brand that started fairly recently, just a couple of years ago, in November 2022. Since they began operations, the business has successfully served 25,000 customers. The brand makes its clothes for children ages 1 to 12. Their tagline, in an effort to capture parents' attention, reads: ‘From a parent to a parent'.
The founder, Ravi Kumar, explained the reason behind his opening Guugly Wuggly. He said that prior to opening his brand, he often had trouble finding clothing items for his daughter that were reasonably priced and of good quality. The most affordable children's clothing he came across was unusable after a few washes, and buying expensive clothes didn't seem like the right thing to do, since they would outgrow them in a few months. On the other hand, clothes from Guugly Wuggly had an average selling price of Rs. 549. His average order value was Rs. 1100. However, Ravi admitted that his company was currently running at a loss.
The only thing that speaks for itself in a show like Shark Tank is the numbers. Talking about the same, Ravi explained that in their first year of operation, from 2022 to 2023, his revenue was Rs. 2.98 lakh, with Rs. 16,000 in profit. Next year, their revenue increased to Rs. 37 lakh with Rs. 1.6 lakh profit. For 2024-2025, the revenue was Rs. 92 lakh, taking in a profit of Rs. 3.3 lakh. Ravi's current EBITDA, which was at -28 percent, greatly shocked the ‘sharks’. To top it off, it came to light that he himself self-funded the entire operation, taking out loans against his family home and gold jewellery. In total, he had put in Rs. 80-90 lakh into the business, which he had earned through loans.
Most ‘sharks’ were not on board with Ravi's brand after realising the probable losses he would incur in the future. At one point, Aman Gupta, the co-founder of boAt, suggested that it would be best for Ravi to quit the business. Following this, Mohit Yadav, the newest ‘shark’ to join the show, recounted his experience and the struggles of starting a kids' apparel brand at the start of his entrepreneurial journey. Eventually, his business shut down after not taking off well in the market. Although Mohit wondered whether quitting the business would make him look like a failure, he quickly set those thoughts aside. In a shocking revelation, Mohit said that he took out a loan of Rs. 1 crore against his home to start his now-successful skincare brand, Minimalist. He further shared:
“I feared that my family won’t even have a home.”
What are your thoughts on Mohit Yadav taking out a Rs. 1 crore loan against his home to build Minimalist? Let us know.
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