Bharat Ke Super Founders bets ₹100 crore pool but can it convert promises into deals

Adding to India’s growing roster of entrepreneurial pitch shows, Amazon MX Player is set to debut Bharat Ke Super Founders, a new startup reality format claiming a total investment pool of ₹100 crore.

Hosted by actor Suniel Shetty, the show has reportedly made commitments to 30-35 startups out of 48 pitches made by startups across 16 episodes, sources told CNBC-TV18.

This would imply an average ticket size of around ₹3 crore per startup, with capital structured through equity, debt and grants, based on the number of commitments cited by sources.

However, like other such reality shows, these are only commitments until they fructify into executed deals and Indian startup shows have historically struggled on this front.

For comparison, Shark Tank India Season 1 closed around 40% of committed deals (27 out of 65) worth around ₹40 crore, as per PrivateCircle Research.

Meanwhile, Indian Angels (JioCinema) showcased around 13 startups with reported commitments north of ₹6.5 crore in its first season and Mission Start Ab featured 10 startups, with commitments from Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl and She Capital’s Anisha Singh. 

The show that will be live on January 16 claims that its ₹100 crore pool is the for an Indian founder-focused entertainment show, the real test will be the conversion rate: how much of this pledged capital actually gets delivered.

The show is produced by Rusk Media and Recur Club, featuring a panel of well-known business personalities including Dr A Velumani (Thyrocare), Dr Aarti Gupta (Anikarth Ventures), Nitish Mittersain (Nazara Technologies), Shanti Mohan (LVX), Aditya Singh (All In Capital), and Ankur Mittal (Physis Capital & Inflection Point Ventures).

Founded in 2021 by IIM-Calcutta alumni Eklavya Gupta and Abhinav Sherwal, Recur Club, which is also the producer of Bharat Ke Super Founders, is a debt marketplace that uses AI to connect businesses with institutional lenders for working capital, venture debt, asset financing, and invoice discounting. Its proprietary AI system, AICA, is also used to screen startups featured on the show.

The company raised a $50 million Series A last year via a mix of debt and equity and in January 2025, floated a dedicated ₹150 crore fund to back 80–100 D2C brands. Since inception, Recur Club claims to have facilitated over ₹3,000 crore in debt sanctions, supporting companies such as MoveInSync, Zypp, Sagar Asia, Kimbal, Captain Fresh, and Palmonas.

Its equity investors include InfoEdge Ventures, Village Global, Titan Capital, LC Nueva, Physis Capital, String Ventures, iA Finvolve (Finvolve), Incred Financial Services and Adept Ventures, while its debt investors include Ugro Capital, Aditya Birla Capital/Finance, Lighthouse Canton and Incred Financial Services.

The new series enters a now-crowded genre that includes Shark Tank India (Sony), The Vault (Times Network), MTV Dropout (MTV), Indian Angels (JioCinema), Mission Start Ab (Amazon Prime Video) and Startup Tamizha (Zee5/Regional TV).

The proliferation of such formats reflects a maturing startup ecosystem, aided by government incentives, regulatory support and digital infrastructure. Reality platforms are also helping broaden access to capital and mentorship while raising mainstream interest in entrepreneurship.

As per Moneycontrol, listed new-age tech companies now account for around 2.49% of India’s market capitalisation, as November 18, 2025.