Emomee on Shark Tank India Season 5 – A High-Octane Pitch That Won Rs 2 Crore Deal

Kids’ edutainment company Emomee’s creative approach to children’s learning and storytelling ignited a fierce bidding war on Shark Tank India Season 5, one of the show’s most talked-about moments. What had begun as a search for ₹1 crore in finance soon resulted in proposals from all five Sharks and an exciting agreement with two of India’s top investors.

Related: Guugly Wuugly on Shark Tank India Season 5 Episode 1 – Kid-Wear Startup Seeks Big Break in the Tank

Varun Duggirala and Pooja Jauhari, a husband and wife team, co-founded the edutainment firm Emomee in Mumbai. Using captivating digital content and tangible items centered around emotional intelligence—a topic frequently disregarded in traditional education—the brand seeks to revolutionize how young children acquire critical life and emotional skills.

Both of Emomee’s founders had a wealth of experience in the advertising and creative industries before to starting the company. They had previously spearheaded major brand campaigns throughout India. Their goal with Emomee is to use play and tales to help kids develop resilience, emotional control, communication skills, and problem-solving ability.

Checkout the company website here: Emomee

The core of Emomee’s product is its micro-story world, which consists of brief but captivating episodes that are posted daily on websites like YouTube. These stories, which are intended for kids between the ages of three and eight, are meant to be both amusing and instructive. They do this by using familiar characters and stories that encourage life skills outside of the classroom.

Emomee’s data-driven and AI-powered content strategy, which maximizes output and reach while sustaining high audience engagement, is what makes it unique. In just a few months since starting its YouTube account in April 2025, Emomee has amassed over 17 million views and 1.5 million followers, demonstrating its appeal to both families and kids.

The “3S model”—Screen (digital content), Stage (physical experiences like play zones), and Shop (branded toys and products)—is the basis of the startup’s future roadmap, which aims to transform digital content into a whole experiential ecosystem.

Though Emomee appears to be in the early growth stage, its pre-Shark Tank financial profile and funding history reflect meaningful investor confidence:

In July 2024, Emomee raised $1 million (~₹8 crore) in a pre-seed round co-led by Whiteboard Capital, Gruhas Collective Consumer Fund, and DeVC — a strong vote of confidence for its vision and early traction.

The company operates on a D2C (direct-to-consumer) model for physical products such as play kits, books, and puzzles, and leverages digital platforms for engagement and distribution.

While detailed revenue figures aren’t publicly disclosed yet, the exponential growth in audience and views, combined with investor backing, sets the stage for scaled monetization through content IP, products, and experiential extensions.

The ₹2 crore Shark Tank investment — at a substantial ₹50 crore valuation — further enhances Emomee’s runway for product development, marketing, and expansion globally.

The enthusiasm, originality, and emotional resonance of Emomee’s pitch on Shark Tank India Season 5 Episode 1 made it stand out. The founders, Varun Duggirala and Pooja Jauhari, began their presentation with a musical and narrative format, which immediately established their brand’s central tenet: employing songs, stories, and characters to teach kids life skills and emotions in an entertaining and engaging way.

For children between the ages of three and eight, they launched Emomee as an edutainment and emotional learning IP. It is based on a universe of characters that impart values like self-control, empathy, confidence, and communication. According to the founders, traditional education places a lot of emphasis on academics while mostly ignoring emotional intelligence, which is essential for both long-term success and mental health. Through games, storybooks, short-form digital material, and upcoming immersive formats, Emomee seeks to close this gap.

The entrepreneurs then presented their traction:

• A rapidly growing YouTube channel with millions of views.
• Strong engagement from parents who use Emomee content as a daily emotional-learning tool for their children.
• A clear roadmap to build a scalable kids’ IP across content (screen), physical experiences (stage), and merchandise (shop).

Sharks’ Reactions & Key Questions

All five Sharks showed immediate interest, but they probed deeply on:

Scalability of Content IP

• How will Emomee go beyond YouTube views and convert attention into a large business?
• What is the long-term monetization strategy—subscriptions, licensing, toys, schools, OTT platforms?

Defensibility

• What prevents bigger media houses from copying the concept?
• How strong is Emomee’s brand moat and character universe?

Revenue Model & Unit Economics

• Current and projected revenue streams.
• Cost of content production versus lifetime value of a user (child/family).

Founders’ Edge

• Their past experience in advertising and storytelling.
• Their capability to build a large IP, not just a content channel.

A particularly interesting moment came when Aman Gupta revealed his prior professional association with Varun from the early days of boAt, praising his branding and storytelling abilities. This added strong credibility to the founders’ execution capability.

1. Namita Thapar – She was the first to place a bid after hearing the founders’ vision, offering ₹1 crore for 2% equity, which matched the founders’ valuation ask of ₹50 crore right off the bat.

2. Aman Gupta – Aman followed with a similar commitment, also offering ₹1 crore for 2% equity on the same valuation, showing strong alignment with the founders’ pitch.

3. Mohit Yadav – Mohit Yadav also joined the chorus with ₹1 crore for 2% equity, indicating his confidence in the business’s potential and willingness to back the founders at their valuation.

4. Kunal Bahl – Kunal Bahl made an identical offer — ₹1 crore for 2% equity at a ₹50 crore valuation — which meant that four Sharks were aligned on the same terms early in the negotiation.

5. Anupam Mittal – Anupam stood out by challenging the valuation and offering a larger cheque with more equity: ₹2 crore for 5% equity, valuing Emomee at ₹40 crore. He emphasized a more hands-on involvement given his experience scaling digital brands, though his valuation was lower than what the founders initially asked.

The negotiation concluded with:

₹2 crore for 4% equity at the same ₹50 crore valuation, from Aman Gupta and Namita Thapar.

The founders chose them for:

• Aman’s expertise in building a consumer brand and scaling digital IP.
• Namita’s operational and strategic depth in building structured, large-scale organizations.

Emomee is positioned for faster expansion thanks to the Shark Tank validation and new strategic partners. Under its 3S model, the business intends to launch a variety of branded toys and apparel, extend its digital content world, and open physical play areas.

In order to become a worldwide brand for children’s emotional intelligence, the creators have also placed a strong emphasis on expanding distribution and fortifying content intellectual property.

Emomee’s Shark Tank experience highlights a significant trend in India’s startup scene: the fusion of scalable digital storytelling with emotional learning. Emomee is not only attracting investment but also creating a path for purpose-driven play and education that appeals to both parents and children because to its solid KPIs, strategic vision, and recently formed partnerships.

This transaction serves as a model for content-driven companies seeking long-term value, demonstrating that even early-stage enterprises can command premium valuations and draw in top investors with the correct product, audience traction, and narrative.