“Anusha Fatima and Rahul Rai, Founders of TrashIt, Pursue 4.5 Crore PKR Investment for Brand Expansion on Shark Tank Pakistan in Exchange for 7.5% Equity Stake”.
Anusha Fatima and Rahul Rai , founders of TrashIt are from Pakistan. They met at the startup weekend that happened in Nest Ayo, where Rahul share his idea with Anusha about Compost Fertilizer ,she agreed on it and they started working on it. Firstly, they invested their own money on this project ,created facilities and started their business in 2017. Rahul looks after legal ,finance and strategy. Anusha looks after business development, fund raising, growth and corporate communication.
Compost fertilizer is basically consist of compostable organic waste. Rahul said that total organic waste generated , yearly in Pakistan is 550 Million tons. Its recovery is estimated to be 25% then 100-13 Million ton is such waste which is compostable. Agri’s waste is standing at 18%. They have an urban facility in which 20 compartments have been made , in which they process the waste. They have to pay some charges for keeping that waste and the rest of the logistics is their own.
The total revenue in the last year they made is 1 Cr PKR and Rs. 4.5 Cr PKR projected in 2024. Shark Faisal Aftab asked them for the break up of the 45 Cr PKR where it will be used. Rahul said out of 45 Cr PKR 30% will be deployed at 3 new sites, 30% for pilot projects so that we can get data and can stand in the market, 22% in operations, 12% sales and marketing and 8% in there certifications and testing. Shark asked him how much net profit will be generated from that? Rahul said that they are expecting 10% net profit this year and in the next year it will grow to 20%.
Sharks asked them if they gave them the investment then they are going to experiment in the farm deployment and so on and for that we gave you the valuation? Anusha said that correct studies had been done through out the world on compost, valid data is available on how much benefit the land gets from the use of compost, no such study is available in Pakistan. Shark Junaid Iqbal asked them to take grant from World Bank, IDB or ADB or anyone. Shark Usama Bashir asked him that explain a little bit about how you reached 60 Cr PKR? Rahul said that they made the forecast for the next two years the base.
Sharks are a little bit confused that whether they are serious about their product or they are just here for promotion. Sharks said them are you serious about raising investment or are you just here to advertise you brand? Because the valuation they asked them are not that serious. Shark asked him if they gave them 4.5 Cr PKR on top of 7.5% then what will be its ROI? Then Rahul answered that its ROI will start coming from next year. And that moment shark said that it is just an imaginary plan that you will go there. Sharks are not impressed by their valuation and product marketing technique.
I think the main reason they were not able to raise funds is they were asking for funding for a business model that they have not tried yet. It’s a very risky for sharks and the other reason is they were not able to justify their valuation of the business.
The founders are amazing and have been working on the startup since 2017. The idea is innovative and will surely help formers to grow their productions but again innovation needs initial funding for testing and trial and sharks seem to me interested in only revenue-generating trading businesses. At last the Deal is not excepted by the Sharks.
https://www.instagram.com/trashitpk/?hl=en
https://www.facebook.com/trashIt.pk
Sumbal is shark tank enthusiast, ever since the show started airing, she has followed it. She likes writing and researching about startups. She is also helping a few startups scale.
