13-year-old Shark Tank contestant gets Rs 50 lakh for anti-bullying app

Anoushka Jolly has become the youngest Shark Tank India contestant. (Image credit: Pathways School)

Class 8 student from Gurugram, Anoushka Jolly, recently received Rs 50 lakh fund from reality show Shark Tank India for an anti-bullying app.

For the 13-year-old, the memory of a fellow student being mocked during a school function five years ago, made her start a social initiative to stop bullying and provide a platform for students as wells as parents to report anonymously.

Jolly created the 'Anti Bullying Squad (ABS)' three years ago, with help from educational institutions, social organisations and experts, which has positively impacted over 2,000 students from over 100 schools and universities.

The youngest Shark Tank India contestant has also come up with a mobile application called 'Kavach' which allows students and parents to report incidents of bullying anonymously, giving opportunity to schools and counsellors to tactfully intervene and take action.

Read more: How to register for Shark Tank India if you're a startup founder looking for funding

Recollecting the incident that made her start this journey, Jolly told news agency PTI, "I was attending the school annual day when my friends decided to bully the six-year-old girl who they found annoying. They walked up to her and started calling her names and laughed at her."

"Soon, I realised how common the problem is and saw many other children of my age being victims of bullying and losing confidence," she said adding that the incident "got registered in my memory and I still cannot forget her face".

While trying to address the issue, Jolly realised that most of the bullying incidents do not get reported and therefore remain unresolved. "So, I came up with an idea of creating a bullying reporting mobile app 'Kavach' to anonymously report incidents," the Pathways School student said.

"The idea was well received by judges of (Shark Tank), two of whom even stepped forward to invest in my app at ₹ 50 lakh in valuation to help me widen its scale and reach," Jolly added.

Read more: Ashneer Grover said no one in his house would wear Shark Tank contestant's designs, wife later wore same label

Planning to take the initiative forward, the 13-year-old is looking forward to launching the 'Kavach' app to reach more children and hold webinars and talks all across the country to spread the anti-bullying message.

Shark Tank India is the indigenous version of Shark Tank, a global entrepreneurial reality show. In India, the show is currently running its first season and has selected 198 candidates out of 50,000 applications.

The investors in Jolly's idea are Anupam Mittal, founder and CEO of People Group (Shaadi.com) and Aman Gupta, co-founder of boAt.

(With inputs from PTI)