Ashneer Grover reveals how he was selected as 'Shark Tank India' judge

'Shark Tank India' judge and BharatPe founder Ashneer Grover.

Bharat Pe founder Ashneer Grover recently opened up about how he was selected as one of the judges for the business reality show 'Shark Tank India'.

The "Shark", as judges of the show are called, was in conversation with Raj Shamani who hosts a YouTube talk show 'Figuring It Out' when he revealed that the journey started when one of the Bharat Pe investors shortlisted his name for Sony to choose from.

"Sony had reached out to Venture Catalyst, an early stage investor. The company had invested in BharatPe and they received 80 times the amount as returns," said Grover.

"So, Venture Catalyst gave Sony a list of 300 founders who were potential judges for the show that they could approach. After that, Sony did its own background research and then reached out to me."

Grover also revealed that he did not watch the original reality show 'Shark Tank' before agreeing to be a part of the Indian version. "Since I didn't watch 'Shark Tank' I did not have the craze to be a part of 'Shark Tank India'. I was told that investing was a part of it and I said yes to the show," adds the fintech founder.

But, the decision was sealed after Grover met Bimal Unnikrishnan, the show runner of 'Shark Tank India' and the rest of the judges.

"I had a very good conversation with the show runner, Bimal and there was this mutual sense of comfort... I also wanted to know who the other judges were because it was critical for me to sit with the right set of people," said Ashneer Grover.

When he came to know that Peyush Bansal, Aman Gupta, Anupam Mittal and Vineeta Singh were the other "Sharks", Grover felt that at ease. "I realised that either know them (the judges) or know of them and all of them have built significant businesses and that's when I said I'll do the show," Grover said.

Apart from the BharatPe founder, the other six judges on Shark Tank India are Namita Thapar of Emcure Pharma, Anupam Mittal of Shaadi.com, Ghazal Alagh of Mamaearth, Peyush Bansal of Lenskart, Aman Gupta of Boat and Vineeta Singh of Sugar Cosmetics.

The show received mixed reviews after its launch in December 2021, and has also attracted some criticism for mistreating entrepreneurs. Grover became fodder for memes after he made aggressive remarks on startup entrepreneurs seeking to raise funding.

Last month, the board of BharatPe announced that he was taking leave of absence amid growing scrutiny and pressure regarding his abusive language to a Kotak employee, a recording of which was viral online.