Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal had become a popular shark on Shark Tank since joining in its third season, but it appears that he won’t be on the show for much longer.
Deepinder Goyal says that he’s being asked to leave Shark Tank because Swiggy will soon sponsor the show, and it doesn’t want him to continue to be a shark. “I unfortunately can’t go back (to Shark Tank) because Swiggy sponsored Shark Tank this time and kicked me out,” Goyal said at the ET Startup Awards. “Apparently, that’s what I heard. They (Swiggy) said that this is the sponsorship, and DP (Deepinder Goyal) can’t be on the show,” he added.
Swiggy is reportedly in the final stages of closing a deal to sponsor the fourth season of Shark Tank India. Moneycontrol reported that Swiggy had stipulated as a part of the agreement that Deepinder Goyal wouldn’t feature on the show as an investor.
Swiggy and Zomato, of course, are fierce rivals in India’s food delivery space, and together have cornered the entire market. But while Zomato is already public, Swiggy is slated to hit the stock markets soon, and could need the additional publicity around its stock market debut. As such, a Shark Tank India sponsorship could serve a dual purpose for Swiggy — it could give the comany lots of additional eyeballs, while simultaneously ensuring that its chief rival’s CEO is no longer on the show.
Shark Tank has been a smash hit since appearing on Indian screens in late 2021. The success of the show has made several prominent entrepreneurs, including Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal and Oyo Rooms CEO Ritesh Agarwal decide to appear on the show as investor-sharks. The show has given an incredible amount of free publicity for its original investors, with Boat, Sugar, Emcure, BharatPe and Lenskart becoming household names since Shark Tank’s launch. Since the show began airing, Namita Thapar’s Emcure has already gone public, and in spite of his court cases, Ashneer Grover has managed to create a personal brand for himself with a popular book and many public appearances.
But the show’s success has raised the stakes for everyone involved, and it’s become a strategic asset for companies. And they’re playing their cards accordingly — Swiggy seems to be using its sponsorship to boot a rival off the show. It remains to be seen how audiences react to not having Deepinder Goyal on Shark Tank’s next season, but with Swiggy pulling no punches, it appears that all’s fair in love, war and food delivery.