Paradyes, India’s first semi-permanent hair colour brand, has impressed the sharks on Shark Tank Season 2. Founded by Yushika Jolly and Siddharth Raghuvanshi, the brand is all about breaking myths about hair colouring and providing customers with a wide range of options.
The couple started their venture in March 2021 with a mission to provide safe, easy-to-apply and affordable hair colours that don’t require a long-term commitment. The brand offers over 20 hair colours that last for 8-10 washes. Paradyes products are available online on the company website, Amazon, Flipkart, and offline in over 35 Health & Glow stores.
When the founders pitched their business on the show, they asked for an investment of ₹65 lakh for 1% equity, valuing the company at ₹65 crore. The startup had already generated sales to the tune of ₹3.5 crore in FY22.
The sharks were quite impressed with the product, supply chain and on-brand marketing of Paradyes. Peyush Bansal, co-founder of Lenskart, started the bidding war with an offer of ₹65 lakh for 5% equity, valuing the company at ₹13 crore. This offer was followed by a joint offer by Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal and Sugar Cosmetics cofounder Vineeta Singh, who asked for 4% equity for the same amount, raising the valuation to ₹16.25 crore.
However, the founders made an unexpected demand and asked for ₹65 lakh for 3% equity from Vineeta Singh and Aman Gupta. This left a sour taste in Mittal’s mouth — who backed out, stating he doubted the founders’ integrity. Ultimately, Gupta and Singh jointly made an offer of ₹65 lakh for 2% equity, valuing the company at approximately ₹32.5 crore. The founders accepted it even though they had a higher offer from Bansal.
The founders clarified to both Mittal and Bansal that their intention was never to offend the sharks. Namita Thapar, executive director at Emcure Pharmaceuticals commented that the founders had every right to choose from the multiple offers available to them. Paradyes has already gained over 80k followers on Instagram and is looking to expand into the permanent and temporary.