'SHARKZ' vs ‘Shark Tank’: A Game-Changing Twist on Showcasing South India’s Entrepreneurs

The business era is transforming rapidly, and so should the opportunity for entrepreneurs. SHARKZ is here to break barriers and create fair and safe opportunity space for innovations. SHARKZ offers a level playing field where dedication, passion, creativity, and talent are the only things that matter.

Entrepreneurs around India can now have access to expert guidance, funding, and global networking opportunities, regardless of their background or the language they speak, without limits. SHARKZ makes sure that every aspiring entrepreneur gets the equal support that they deserve, making it easier for them to launch and expand their business.

“Great purposes don't have any language, and neither should opportunities,” says Mr. Arun Kumar, co-founder of SHARKZ. “Our goal is to build a business space where success is committed by passion, vision, innovation, and hard work—not by the language you speak.

”SHARKZ" is more than just an investment stage—it is a complete habitat for aspiring business leaders. On SHARKZ, startups will not only receive financial support but will also earn access to top industry mentors, business development tools, and strategically planned guidance. The platform will connect entrepreneurs with knowledgeable, experienced investors and business leaders from across the industry, ensuring that they receive proper guidance and support to expand their business successfully.

By excluding language barriers. SHARKZ allows entrepreneurs to present their business ideas confidently, whether they are from small towns or big cities. The platform promotes collaborations, allowing founders to learn from each other and grow in supportive environments and have healthy competition.

As SHARKZ continues to scale, it remains committed to a healthy environment, fairness, inclusivity, and empowering entrepreneurs to grow in a global marketplace. Success will no longer be scaled by language but by determination, innovation, and the craze to create and achieve the extraordinary.

About "Sharkz"

"Sharkz" is a reality show designed to empower regional entrepreneurs by providing them with a platform to pitch their ideas in their native language. The show brings together experienced investors and mentors to guide and support founders as they navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship.

With its unique format and regional focus, "Sharkz" aims to inspire and uplift the next generation of Indian entrepreneurs to global level. The "Sharkz" business initiative started under the direction of two strategic business creators. The seasoned Singapore-based businessman Mr. Krishnamani Kannan has dedicated his career for more than 20 years as he actively supports startups through his role as an angel investor over the past ten years. His deep industry knowledge combined with extensive connections from the startup field gives him tremendous worth as a mentor. Mr. Arun Kumar also leads "Sharkz" as co-founder and serves as the founder of ParkQwik while using his knowledge and innovation for this initiative. He dedicates himself to developing future business leaders because of his experience running businesses.

NASA Supported Reality Show 'Space Hero' inks Asia Partnership Deal With One Digital Entertainment

The reality show will send a civilian into space for a 6-day mission orbiting Earth and synching with the ISS

MUMBAI, India, March 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TDGA Holdings Ltd., the UK-based media company founded by Thomas Reemer and Deborah Sass and led by former News Corp Europe chief, Marty Pompadur announces its exclusive partnership with industry veterans and Asia's leading digital media conglomerate, One Digital Entertainment today.

With this partnership, One Digital Entertainment is tasked with strategically building the brand 'Space Hero' through product strategy, regional development, media alliances and brand marketing for the world's first ever global casting show, where contestants compete for a trip into space exclusively for the territories of India, South East Asia and MENA.

Space Hero will be the World's first global casting show to send a civilian into space as part of a $155million 6-day mission orbiting Earth and synching with the ISS. It is a first-of-its-kind, global media company that unites citizens around the World and inspires community, collaboration and innovation here on Earth; through a biennial competition where people from all walks of life have the chance to compete and select one of their peers for a mission to space. Through interactive, immersive, produced and user-generated content, the Space Hero platform encourages participants and fans to be inspired by the wonder of space, to create change at home.

The reality show will commence with 24 contestants from around the world, twelve men and twelve women, twelve from emerging countries and twelve from developed countries. They will be housed in the Space Village, a future-facing sustainable experience, but with space age technologies and the experiential feel of space. The show will document their lives as they prepare to compete for the venture into space on the free-flyer mission. On the show, the contestants will have their emotional, mental and physical strength tested, similar to how astronauts train before a flight. While in the Space Village, the 'Space Hero' house, activities, challenges and voting will narrow down the list of candidates until only one person remains.

The entire mission will be live streamed 24*7 and live interactions with the participants are possible. The show is expected to air in 2023, and anyone over the age of 18 with a basic level of English can apply for the competition. Space Hero is planning 15 seasons over the next 30 years, eventually flying beyond the ISS, to the Moon and Mars. The Space Hero project is supported by over 70 space agencies & space institutions globally, plus over 55 private Space companies from around the world. On April 12, 2021, marking the 60th anniversary of the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, Space Hero signed a Space Act Agreement(SAA) with NASA; becoming the first media company to do so in decades.

"We are glad to have partnered with One Digital Entertainment who shall bring in their robust expertise for the territories of South East Asia, India and MENA regions. These territories have very high online participation for some of the biggest global events and we are excited to further expand our operations, in order to build various business and marketing synergies via our partners One Digital Entertainment," says Thomas Reemer, Creator and Founding Partner, Space Hero.

"Space travel has been a dream for millions for many decades and Space Hero is making that dream a reality; giving the common man an opportunity to engage with space. We are thrilled to join hands with Space Hero to forefront its' trajectory within the Asian communities," says Shabir Momin, Managing Director & Co-Founder, One Digital Entertainment.

"The opportunity of space exploration is not limited to specific citizens, countries or for defined income groups any more. Space is one of the most inaccessible industries in the world. Space Hero is giving you that access! With our mission to make Space Hero a truly global platform that is united by people from different countries and of different colour, creed and race, the partnership with One Digital Entertainment solidifies our commitments towards the same," says Deborah Sass, Founding Partner and Co-CEO, Space Hero.

"It is indeed a proud moment as this partnership marks Space Hero's maiden partnership in Asian region. We aspire to strengthen Space Hero's long-term vision with strategic and unique partnerships within the media gamut. Space Hero is setting benchmarks in the space media business, and we are excited to use our experience in the various verticals to bring these projects to a global audience," says Gurpreet Singh, COO & Co-Founder, One Digital Entertainment.

One Digital Entertainment is Asia's leading digital media, technology and creator network which specializes in many verticals of content and digital media across music, food, comedy, film, fashion and lifestyle domains and works with some beacon creators and platforms like MostlySane, Badshah, Sidhu Moosewala, Yuvraj Singh, CarryMinati, Alia Bhatt, Sanjeev Kapoor, Sony Pictures, Google, Facebook, Spotify and the likes. The company currently has an unbeaten repertoire of managing a whopping 6000+ creators and ten billion watched minutes of content every month on social media. In recent times the company has acquired Blush, Being Indian aside of significant stakes in Digital2 Sports Pte Ltd & Instant Bollywood. The company has also launched India's first creator-driven merchandise marketplace MerchBay and a dedicated podcast brand PodOne.

Cashfree Payments Ties-Up With SonyLIV, for Shark Tank India

Cashfree Payments is payments partner for iconic start-up funding reality show

Leading payments and API banking solutions company, Cashfree Payments (Cashfree) today announced its partnership with SonyLIV as the payments partner for the first edition of "Shark Tank India” show.

Shark Tank is a 20-year-old international TV show that has reinvigorated start-ups across 40 countries and is touted as the world’s number one business reality show. The one-hour show features start-up founders making pitches to judges, who are also prospective investors, for raising funds.

The show’s importance in the country cannot be emphasized as India has 38,815 active start-ups as of date. Of these, 1,050 start-ups were launched in 2020. In the same year, start-ups raised $11.5 billion. By 2021-end, start-ups are projected to raise another $16-20 billion. And, all of this has happened and is set to happen, despite the pandemic. Cashfree Payments finds value in the collaboration, as its operations towards enabling businesses digitize and grow by providing distinctive payments solutions resonate well with the format of Shark Tank. Similarly, the show presents golden opportunities to Indian startups and entrepreneurs to showcase their business models.

Akash Sinha, Co-Founder and CEO, Cashfree Payments said, "We are glad to partner with SonyLIV for the Shark Tank India show as it allows us to associate with a platform that recognizes and supports young entrepreneurs. This is in line with Cashfree’s philosophy of fostering innovation in the Indian business ecosystem and contributing to the Make in India initiative.”

“Cashfree values the passion of entrepreneurs towards their businesses and such examples of extraordinary spirit and aspirations. In fact, we believe that this association will benefit the country’s overall start-up ecosystem – celebrating entrepreneurship and creating a more favorable environment for start-ups to bloom,” he added.

Akash Sinha, CEO and Co-Founder, Cashfree Payments

Ranjana Mangla, Sr. Vice President & Head of Ad Revenue - SonyLIV at Sony Pictures Networks India - Digital Business said, “It gives us immense pleasure to partner with Cashfree Payments for our first edition of Shark Tank in India. Our unique and valuable collaboration with Cashfree is sure to enhance the dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country. Being the payment partner for this edition of Shark Tank, we are happy to open that gateway for innovative minds to foster in synergy with Cashfree.”

With over 50% market share, Cashfree Payments today leads the way in bulk disbursals in India with Cashfree Payouts. Recently, India’s largest lender, SBI invested in Cashfree, underscoring the latter’s role in building a robust payments ecosystem.

Cashfree Payments works closely with all leading banks to build the core payments and banking infrastructure that powers the company’s products and is also integrated with major platforms such as Shopify, Wix, Paypal, Amazon Pay, Paytm and Google Pay. Apart from India, Cashfree products are used in eight other countries including the US, Canada and the UAE.

Shark Tank India is going to premiere on SonyLIV on Dec 20th.

About Cashfree Payments

Cashfree Payments is a leading payment and API banking solutions company. It provides full-stack payments solutions enabling businesses in India to collect payments and make payouts via all available methods with simple integration. Cashfree Payments’ offerings include an advanced and easy way to integrate payment gateway, a split payment solution for marketplaces, bank account verification API and Auto Collect -- a virtual account solution to match inbound payments to customers. Founded by IIIT Hyderabad alumnus Akash Sinha and IIT Kharagpur graduate Reeju Datta, www.cashfree.com is among the leading payment service providers in India processing transactions worth USD 20 Billion annually. It has leveraged technology to lead payment disbursals in India with more than 50% market share among payment processors. Cashfree Payments enables more than 1,00,000 businesses with payment collections, vendor payouts, wage payouts, bulk refunds, expense reimbursements, loyalty and rewards. Apart from India, Cashfree Payments products are used in eight other countries including the USA, Canada and UAE. Cashfree Payments is backed by Silicon Valley investor Y Combinator, Apis Partners, State Bank of India (SBI) and was incubated by PayPal.