Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal is in the news for calling out Havintha, a hair care brand on Shark Tank India season 4. Bharat Khatri, the founder of hair care brand Havintha, claimed that they produced only natural products that aid in stopping hair fall.
He sought ₹50 lakh in exchange of 2 per cent stake in his company. The brand’s logo left boAt CMO Aman Gupta puzzled, who thought that the logo resembled a cannabis leaf.
During his pitch, Khatri said Havintha sells different kinds of hair care products. He then claimed that he built his business on just ₹22,000 debt against his credit card and that he had sales worth ₹5 crore in the previous financial year.
Just when everything seemed to work for the pitcher, Mittal questioned his qualifications and the science behind his products. Later, the founder admitted that he did not have a qualification in Ayurveda but had an AYUSH license.
Needless to say, the pitch left netizens in awe of Mittal as they backed him for calling out the brand’s “quackery”.
“Anupam is the only one who calls out such Ayurveda quackery. Some of these guys act like simpleton during pitch for TRP. He has a manufacturing facility which will require huge investment plus various license and claims he doesn’t which ingredients and order in the label,” a user said.
“Indians would buy anything in the name of natural, ayurveda and all that, I don’t doubt his sales or numbers but Anupam’s feedback was spot on, he should’ve some backing behind his claim,” another user said.
“He was not the real founder of havintha what i think is that it was just a marketing stunt used by havintha founders in order to promote there product worldwide (as it was D2C products),” a third user noted.
“Ayurveda is a scam most of its product are it’s not science it’s sudoscience 90% of it doesn’t work 10% has reality to it but if you live long enough you can at least know some benifical local herbs etc that’s given. I always stay away from these nonsense,” a fourth user commented.
During the pitch, Snapdeal co-founder Kunal Bahl said he believed Khatri and what he was doing. Even though he refused to invest in the business, Bahl asked Bharat to contact him when he converted Havintha into a private limited company.
After the founder left, Mittal and Bahl discussed about the product and the entrepreneur.
Bahl said that a lot of home remedies have been passed down generations, thus, many people don’t really know how these remedies work. Mittal, however, said: “When you package ghar ka nuskha and sell it in the market, then you have a responsibility to do it responsibly. I am sorry to say but I felt this was complete quackery.”