In this pitch, Sharks got to settle some scores with one of the founders of Hood named Abhishek Asthana, known to take digs at sharks. The sharks paid back to the pun directed at them by Abhishek by pointing out that they are overconfident, need a reality check, and lack humility.
Hood App
The hood app is a platform where you can share your views without revealing your true identity. The app ensures that the data is end-to-end encrypted and that what you write is completely safe, secure, and confidential.
The most popular feature of this app is anonymous groups. In this app, you can make a group of your company, college, interest, etc.
When this app was first made it was named Zorro, which they later rebranded as Hood.
After you download this app, you have to feed your number and you will receive an OTP. Then you will receive a username which you have the option to change.
You can form your own groups or they also give you a list of hot groups that you can join.
Just like how Twitter has trending topics, the hood has topics that are hot on the hood.
The founders believe that anonymity will bring about virality to this app. They launched the app in June and in just 45 days they got 5K users, that too with minimal marketing.
They aim to acquire 1 crore users and then target the US market.
When they made an appearance in Shark Tank they had 5k groups. Their total users are 7.5 lakhs and 2.4 lakh active users. They have 60K, daily active users.
They have 6K posts on the hood every day. 1,800 new threads are created on the hood every day.
Hood App Founders
Jasveer Singh, Abhishek Asthana, and Deepak Kumar are the founders of Hood App.
Jasveer Singh was born in UP, after completing his BSc in Math he did MBA. Later he made 2 big companies and took the exit at ₹9 to ₹10 crores. His current ambition is to make Hood big.
Abhishek Asthana was born in Lucknow and did his engineering and MBA. He runs a very successful anonymous blog named Gabbar Singh for the past 12 years.
Deepak Kumar is from Jammu and he does coding.
Jasveer wanted to do a big project since 2012, during lockdown he approached Abhishek Asthana and Deepak Kumar. They brainstormed for 3 to 4 months and made Zorro which they later renamed HOOD.
Hood App Shark Tank India
The founders had asked for ₹1.2 crores for 0.2% equity at ₹600 crores valuation.
They had already raised a round in Jan 2022, of ₹23 crores at ₹112 crores valuation.
When Anupam pointed out to Abhishek that he is the one who has poked a lot of fun at Shark Tank India. Aman jokingly said that every dog has his day and today’s Dobermans are the sharks.
Let us check out how the sharks turned into Dobermans and took their revenge on Abhishek Asthana
Anupam Mittal was out because he believed that no government will legally allow anonymous apps and pseudonyms already exist on all the popular Social Networking Sites.
Namita Thapar told them that they need a reality check for ₹600 crores valuation because throughout the pitch they are saying that their company is new, she questioned that if they are new then why is the valuation so high?
Amit Jain pointed out that the founders lack humility.
Peyush explained that none of the Indian social networking apps went viral that does not mean it cannot happen. He asked the founders what they are doing so differently, and they answered that this is their mission for the past 12 years. They have a strong team and determination. They have written posts every day, read the comments, and studied the reaction, in short, they have put all their learning into their app.
Although Peyush was not much interested in their pitch, when they gave the above answer, he thought that he should give them a chance.
Aman Gupta liked the founders and felt that they are confident, he and Peyush together gave the offer of ₹60 lakhs for 0.54%equity and ₹50 lakh debt at 12% equity. The founders accepted and the deal was secured.
Where Can You Find Them
Concluding Remarks
An app that keeps the identity of the users anonymous or uses pseudonyms is not a novel concept. Apps like Secret and Sarahah, which were launched 6-7 years ago, had to shut down after bullying, spiteful comments and lies about people became frequent and difficult to control.
To tackle this problem the founder said that they have given the option of disliking the post. If the number of dislikes on a particular post is high, then their system will pull it down.
Would you express your thoughts and feelings through a pseudonym identity or you would rather prefer to discuss the stuff with the other person face to face? Do let us know your answer through comments.
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