kyari at Shark Tank

1/19/2025

Kyari: Innovating Green Decor – A Shark Tank Pitch Review

Kyari, founded by Agam Choudhary and Saksham Jain from Indore, is a green decor brand revolutionizing plant care. With a wide range of innovative products, Kyari aims to simplify gardening for modern households. Their pitch on Shark Tank showcased their achievements, challenges, and vision, leaving an impression despite not securing a deal.


About Kyari: A Green Decor Brand

Kyari offers over 150 products, including self-watering planters, organic fertilizers, and unique plant care solutions. One of their standout innovations is their self-watering planters, which require watering just once a week, solving common problems like over-watering and under-watering.

In August 2024, Kyari launched Hydrate, a water meter that ensures plants receive just the right amount of hydration. They also introduced the Plant Watering Globe, a product that converts any planter into a self-watering system. These solutions reflect their commitment to making plant care hassle-free for everyone.

With a strong online presence on their website and marketplaces like Amazon, Kyari serves over 5 lakh customers and ships more than 2,000 plants daily.


Impressive Sales Performance

Kyari’s sales journey showcases remarkable growth:

  • Last Month (October 2024): ₹2.63 Cr in net sales.
  • Last 7 Months (FY24-25): ₹10.5 Cr in net sales.
  • Annual Sales Trends:
    • FY22-23: ₹1.75 Cr
    • FY23-24: ₹9.54 Cr
    • FY24-25 (till October): ₹10.48 Cr

The founders project an annualized revenue run rate of ₹45 Cr by March 2025 and estimate sales for FY24-25 to reach ₹23 Cr. Despite this growth, Kyari currently operates at a loss due to high marketing expenses.


Financials and Challenges

While Kyari’s unit economics show promise, high marketing costs and operational expenses impact profitability:

  • Gross Margin: 70%
  • Contribution Margin 2: 9.5%
  • EBITDA: -11.5%

The founders have raised ₹8.45 Cr across multiple funding rounds, with valuations ranging from ₹40 Cr to ₹50 Cr. However, they currently have only ₹33 Lakhs in the bank and face a cash burn of ₹2 Cr projected for FY24-25.


Shark Feedback

Why the Sharks Opted Out

  1. Vineeta Singh: Concerned about high operational costs.
  2. Anupam Mittal: Skeptical about profitability and scalability.
  3. Namita Thapar: Felt the founders lacked a clear vision for the long-term future of their products.

Offer from Peyush and Kunal

Peyush Bansal and Kunal Bhal offered ₹4 Cr for 10% equity, valuing Kyari at ₹40 Cr. The founders countered with a ₹50 Cr valuation, but the deal did not materialize. Peyush and Kunal expressed belief in the brand's potential, stating, “Fortunes are built on contrarian bets, not on consensus bets.”