80Wash: A Shark Tank Pitch Analysis

80Wash, a brand founded by Varinder Singh, Nitin Saluja & Rouble Gupta, recently featured on Shark Tank India Season 3, aiming to secure investment for their innovative washing machines. This analysis delves into the details of 80Wash, encompassing its establishment, ownership structure, business model, products, and the Sharks' decisions regarding their pitch.

Background

80Wash is a LLP (Limited Liability Partnership) namely 80Wash LLP with incorporation date on March 11, 2021. This company is registered in Haryana, India. The LLP has sold about 40 washing machines till date and the centred clients are industries, hospitals, hotels and salons. Their vision is to make laundry economical and environment friendly.

Ownership and Establishment

Varinder Singh, Nitin Saluja & Rouble Gupta are the co-founders of 80Wash. Nitin runs a lab in Chitkara University with the name-Centre for High Frequency & High Power. Varinder and Rouble are the student researchers in his lab and together they wanted a technology which can make laundry economical, efficient and resource saver.

Business Model

80Wash operates in B2B market segment. Their machines use ISP Technology (Immediate Supersaturated Phase Steam Technology). This technology makes a single drop of water so powerful that it can remove odour, bacteria and strains from the clothes in just 80 seconds. 80Wash has filed an application to obtain patent on their ISP Technology. The machine takes pre-processing time of 120 seconds in all. Many big brands have visited to take demonstrations but don’t want to disturb their current assembly line production. The brands are of the view that such a technology should not be introduced in the market.

Products and Services

80Wash offers washing machines in two different weight categories, 3kg and 7kg, with different prices. Detailed information about their machines can be found on their website: https://80wash.com/.

Shark Tank Pitch and Decisions

80Wash presented their pitch in Shark Tank India seeking an investment of ₹1Cr for 2.5% equity stake (Valuation ₹40Cr):

• Aman Gupta: Aman was not convinced with the claims and working of their washing machine. This was because the founders earlier mentioned that the machine could take only 80 seconds and remove the stain in 1st wash cycle only. However, in the demo the machine actually took 120 seconds in 1st cycle and the strain wasn’t completely vanished even after the 2nd wash cycle. Aman said that if their machine didn’t carry the capacity to remove Vineeta’s coffee strain, then they should not have asked Vineeta to put coffee strain. Hence, Aman objected to their technology and gave 0 ratings to their invention, innovation, demo & technology. He called their technology a water boiling machine. Consequently, Aman didn’t extend any offer to the founders.
• Peyush Bansal: Peyush wanted to see a demo right away. Peyush called their pitch haywire since the demonstration provided by the founders didn’t carry the confidence as committed initially. He said that their technology is an early concept which is not fully furnished and properly prepared. Hence, Peyush didn’t offer any helping hand and advised them to make some improvisations in the pitch.
• Vineeta Singh: Vineeta, while the demonstration was about to start, put the strain of her coffee so as to see the clear and true result of the machine. She showed keen interest to smell the cloth after being washed just to check whether the odor gets completely removed or not. Vineeta said that a bacterium, which takes hours to be removed, cannot be killed in just 80 seconds. Vineeta found the business to be an uninvestable one and got red flag signals from the demonstration. Conclusively, she was not convinced to invest.
• Azhar Iqubal: Azhar initially suggested the founders to sell their ISP Technology to other brands to which founders said that many brands have already approached them for the technology but they didn’t want to disturb their current assembly line production. After the demonstration, Azhar couldn’t gain confidence in their claims, commitments, and their patented technology. He advised the founders to further continue with Research & Development and then claim their revolutionized technology.
• Anupam Mittal: Just like other Sharks, even Anupam was uncertain about the success of their ISP Technology. This was the result of the time consumed more than the time which was committed to wash the sheet of cloth. Anupam said that the founders were going in the wrong direction. Their target customers which are hospitals, restaurants & salons have to be changed to the local Indian market & villages because for the industrial sector time is money and their machinery is time-consuming. Consequently, he didn’t offer any deal.

Analysis of Shark Decisions

The Sharks' decisions reflect several key considerations for 80Wash:

• Change in target customers: 80Wash currently targets industries, hospitals, hotels & salons as their customer base but the business model and the ISP Technology on which they are currently operating don’t seem to be fit as per the industrial time commitments and requirements. Hence, their target market should rather be households, villages, localized Indian markets.
• Undelivered commitments: 80Wash promised to remove the coffee strain in just 80 seconds; however, it actually took 120 seconds. The machine was supposed to completely alleviate the strain just 1st wash cycle but apparently, it couldn’t keep with the promise even after the second wash. This showed lack of confidence and trust on the part of the technology as well as the founders which ultimately resulted in false and unfulfilled promises and claims.

Some key strengths and weaknesses of 80Wash:

Strengths:

• Resource utilization: The strength of 80Wash is their ISP Technology which takes minimal use of water to clean the clothes ultimately resulting in the utilization and savings of scarce resources.

Weaknesses:

• Inappropriate target base: While 80Wash targets commercial sectors like hospitals, hotels, and salons, their current business model and ISP technology do not align well with the demanding timelines and needs of those industries. A more suitable target market for 80Wash could have been households, particularly in rural areas and the broader Indian domestic market.
• Lack of confidence: 80Wash couldn’t keep pace with their claims and commitments and were also nervous when the demonstration started. This showed a lack of confidence in their invention, claims, and commitments which turned out to be a major disadvantage for them.
• Limited cleaning power: 80Wash failed to completely remove the strain even after 2 wash cycles. This proved limited cleaning capabilities of the product.

Future of 80Wash

The future of 80Wash can be successful if the founders put some more toil, hard work, and smart work and rebuild their technology and product. Their invention can be a revolution in the washing machine sector but only if it fulfills the claims and the commitments promised.

Conclusion

The appearance of 80Wash in the Shark Tank India Season 3 shows that revolutions in the washing machine sector are not that easy. They are challenging because any new innovation has to be tested time and again to prove usefulness and worth which ultimately 80Wash failed to show. But this can be a lesson and a learning for the founders to revamp their technology by investing more time in the Research & Development sector and then make a comeback with an improved and more efficient technology which will be suitable not only for industries but for the household sector as well.

Quick Summary: