SoulUp Shark Tank Pitch:
SoulUp is the world’s first peer-to-peer network that helps connect to people who went through the same challenges and experiences as you in the past. This is applicable to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Bipolar disorder, Depression & everyday life issues. Founders added that SoulUp is not a replacement for therapy but a parrallel approach. The company asked for ₹50 lakhs for 3% of the equity giving them valuation of ₹16.66 Crores.
At the time of Pitch, SoulUp was only available through their website. A user registers and chooses one of 9 categories to connect with their peers. Their website supports 21 languages. They had a total of 700 conversations so far and have 200 peers. Their duration for conversation is 45 Minutes for which the user pays a fee of ₹99 per session. They also hold group sessions which are supported by a therapist. The founders vision and belief is that future for mental health is peer-to-peer support. The founders shared that they have competetion on global level but not much in India.
SoulUp has two revenue models. first one being the One-on-One fee per conversation of ₹99. Secondly, They charge ₹500 per user per session for Group conversations. They have 50% margins on group sessions and the rest goes as commission to the facilitator.
SoulUp Shark Tank Negotiations & Funding:
Vineeta and Anupam came together to give the first offer of ₹50 Lakhs for 20% of the company. Namita comes in solo and gives the option to entrepreneurs to choose one of the two offers. She matched Vineeta & Anupam’s offer of ₹50 lakh for 20% and gave the option to dilute less and take ₹25 lakhs for 10% and rest as interest-free debt. Amit and Aman comes together to offer ₹50 Lakhs for 15% of the company which Namita matched right away. Vineeta & Anupam also matched the offer of ₹50 Lakhs for 15%.
The founders counter those offers with ₹50 Lakh for 5% to which Namita responded with ₹50 lakhs for 10%. Aman and Amit revises their offer to ₹50 lakhs for 9% of the company. This lead to a shark fight between Amit and Namita as she made comments on how the entrepreneurs needed to pick the right partners. Anupam and Vineeta also revise their offer to ₹50 lakhs for 10% of the company. Namita really wanted to join the cause therefore shecames down to ₹50 lakhs for 5% which was the counter founders initally made. Puneeta and Mehak accepted that offer and they shook hands on that!
Who are the founders of SoulUp?
Punita Mittal & Mahak Maheshwari founded SoulUp. They came from Banglore. Punita worked in the health department for 13 years and has worked in another startup before called Healthify where she spent 4.5 years in leadership positions. She graduated from IIT Delhi in 2007. Mehak is graduated from IIT Bombay and worked in management consulting. She added that she has also worked in two startups in her past experience.
How is SoulUp doing after Shark Tank India?
Our research into the company revealed that Shark Tank India’s deals with Namita did not close after the show Aired. This was shocking as Namita showed so much interest not just on air but even after their episode aired. Namita Shared the following reasons for her investment :
There is a reason I fought tonight for the mental health platform Soul Up. This is one health condition where so much needs to be done ! Shaming about mental health has been normalized with words like “mental” and “psycho”. However, seeking help about it is still seen as a big taboo. We have occasional celebs like Virat Kohli, Selena Gomez or Deepika Padukone speak about their struggles with depression and loneliness, however, we need more open conversations around this. The stats are startling:
1. WHO says about 20% of Indians would suffer from mental health diseases by the end of the year. Shockingly 1 suicide is committed in India every 2 minutes.
2. In India, 80% people with mental illness do not seek professional psychiatric assistance.
3. In India, we have 0.75 psychiatrists for every 1 lakh people vs 16.6 per 1 lakh people in the US.
Covid 19 has triggered a 25% increase in depression & anxiety per WHO with women & young adults being most impacted. Let us all pledge today to do our bit…Let us all use the power of our voices to address these issues, talk freely, bust taboos & myths and most importantly push people to seek help at the right time !
@namitathapar
Despite this setback, The company is still in business as of December 2023 and thriving. They have over 50 thousand users with a 92% satisfaction rate.
Source: Instagram @soulup_now
Here are other companies from Season 2 Episode 47.
certainly like your website but you need to take a look at the spelling on quite a few of your posts Many of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very troublesome to inform the reality nevertheless I will definitely come back again
Thank you, I appreciate you taking the time to give valuable feedback. I will look into that and edit/improve those posts!