D2C entrepreneur and co-founder of boAt Aman Gupta, who gained huge popularity as a ‘shark’ in the Indian adaptation of the start-up reality show ‘Shark Tank’, believes a lot in “hustle”. Even though the term is often interpreted negatively, Gupta says he cannot work with someone who does not “reciprocate” his level of energy and “drive”.
Talking about building the D2C juggernaut at boAt, one of India’s top consumer electronics brands, Gupta shared that he did not find many supporters in the initial days of the journey.
“It was a tough category. When we started [in 2016], Many online brands in this area were not funded. We went to 40 angel investors, and once they started asking questions, we came back and hammered out those points,” Gupta shared at ASCENT Conclave 2022. Gupta added.
boAt raised its first major round of funding in 2018, when D2C-focused early-stage investor Fireside Ventures invested ₹6 crore ($900,000) in the start-up. “Kanwal” [Kanwaljit Singh, Managing Partner at Fireside] Bet on me and I gave him good returns,” shared Gupta.
At the time of funding, Singh had said in a statement, “boAt has the makings of a truly iconic brand… We look for brands that have identified white spaces and come up with solutions and products that cater to these target audiences. boAt as a brand is doing exactly that.”
Today, boAt is backed by large investors including Warburg Pincus, Qualcomm Ventures, InnoVen Capital, among others. The company claims to have clocked a revenue of Rs 3,000 crore at the end of FY22, growing at 100 per cent year-on-year. it intended to go public even earlier Exited IPO last month,
Emphasizing the importance of “hungry” founders – a philosophy he follows when choosing his investments on Shark Tank India – Gupta said, “Enthusiasm is the first quality I look for in a founder, and it is my works for.”
