Shark Tank India 5 pitchers remind Kunal Bahl of ‘local property dealer’, ask ‘aap pe trust kaise aayega’: ‘Name reminds of a fraud company’

Rajeev Chhabra and Varun Singhi, the founders of PropFTX came in seeking Rs 1 crore in exchange for 1.5 percent of the company, valuing it at Rs 66.67 crore. Their company is still in its pre-revenue stage. Varun Alagh asked how their model works and the founders explained that if there is a property worth Rs 100 crore, they can divide the fractions between 200 parties maximum. After they have these interested parties, they form a private limited company and in this case, everyone would pay Rs 50 lakh each. When Namita Thapar asked about how their liquidity model works, the founder said that the property can only be sold if 70 percent of the co-owners are interested in selling the property, or if that doesn’t happen, the owners can list their sale on the website. The sharks pointed out that in this case, the deal would be dependent on market forces as no one would be interested in buying on a pro-rata basis if there is no demand for the property in the market.

ALSO READ | Shark Tank India pitchers organise romantic date for Ghazal and Varun Alagh, turn down Anupam Mittal’s Rs 8 cr offer

Kunal Bahl then asked why a customer would trust them with their hard earned money. Varun added, “The more I listen to you, the more I feel like I am talking to a local property dealer. You think about your consumer and tell me that when they look at you, they are looking at a website. What kind of trust are they getting through that makes them invest their money here?” He added, “Agar maine Rs 50,000 ya Rs 1 lakh laga diye aur saal bhar baad yeh company band ho gayi toh? Uske baad meri pvt ltd company 200 logo ke sath jinko main janta hi nahi. Aur ab main dhoodhnta fir raha hu ki kaun kahan pe hai, isko mil ke bechein, nikalein. Mere ko kaise trust aayega ki yeh sab nahi hoga mere sath? (If I invest Rs 50,000 or Rs 1 lakh and if you shut your company after 1 year. And then I am looking for the 200 people with whom I have a private limited company, who are all strangers. Then I am looking for them to sell this property. How will I trust that this won’t happen to me?)”

ALSO READ | Shark Tank India 5 pitcher asks Anupam Mittal if Shaadi.com guarantees safety as his business is rejected, Aman Gupta says, ‘Kabhi bhi kaand ho sakta hai’

The founders then explained their business model, which made it very clear that their revenue would primarily come from the builders, and not the individuals buying the property. The sharks said that their real customers in this case were the builders, and the company appeared like it was made to serve them.

Anupam Mittal, Vineeta Singh, Namita Thapar, Varun Alagh all bowed out fo the negotiations. Kunal Bahl then pointed out the biggest mistrust with the company, which was their name. Kunal said that FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange from the US, went through a major scandal a couple of years ago and their founder was in jail. “Why did you not change your name?” he asked and added, “FTX is a scam and fraud company and their founder is in jail.” He said that any customer who looks them up will be redirected to the article about FTX’s fraud which would hurt their business as well.