Shark Tank India 3: From being known as ‘Girl with a broken neck’ to handling businesses worth crores; a look into entrepreneur Radhika Gupta’s lavish lifestyle, family and more

Radhika Gupta, the Managing Director and CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Fund joined the panel of Shark Tank India Season 3 as one of the six new Sharks. The business tycoon faced several ups and downs in her entrepreneurial journey. From shooting for Shark Tank India with her one-year-old son, facing financial crisis to heading businesses worth crores, take a look at her lavish lifestyle.

In the introduction montage of her in Shark Tank India 3, she shared, “My upbringing has been very unique because my father was a diplomat. He used to represent the government, we used to represent India and we used to change countries every three years. I think whatever we are is because of the values given by the family. My father always used to say, when we leave a country, that it's an old era, it's gone, now look ahead.”

I started my career in Dallas, Texas on my first project with McKinsey when I was 21. It was here I worked 18 (yes!) hours, days for months on end, crashed a rental Audi on my first day at work in front of the client’s CEO, and learned that consulting isn’t big ideas and white smoke but the hard grind of details. 20 years later, I’m back in Dallas, fundraising and it is all so nostalgic. Has anything changed? Well… I still work insanely hard (I am not sure about hours!)… I now know that building anything lies in hard execution… but… I have stopped trying to drive!

She wrote, “For a middle-class kid, going to an Ivy League school was a dream and I was lucky enough to get into Penn and the M&T program and be given generous financial support. To be recognised as a Distinguished Alumnus by my own school is really proof of the power of dreams.”

“So when I was 24 years old, working in the US, there was a financial crisis. And then I made a very unique decision to come to India, to become an entrepreneur. And for 4-5 years, I slogged a lot in Mumbai and built the company, Forefront Capital. And there was an opportunity, so I sold my company to Edelweiss Group. But fortune played an exciting role for me.” She then became MD and CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Fund.

In 2018, I took storytelling classes. And after that, I did a talk. It was titled, ‘Girl with a Broken Neck’, which was released on YouTube. The biggest impact was on my self-confidence. I learned that there are many challenges, rejections, and problems. I am very optimistic. If you ask me the biggest reason for my optimism, it is Indian entrepreneurship. Our animal instinct to make companies in India will take the country forward.

Adding on how she’s been striking a balance between motherhood, her business and the reality show, she replied, “It is chaotic. When I was getting my hair and make-up done, he was in the suite and he spent a lot of time on the Shark Tank sets. He stayed with me. I have always believed that motherhood shouldn’t limit your ability to take on new opportunities, whether it is professionally or things like that. I have a very good support system. I won’t say each day is easy but he is growing up seeing his mother as a CEO, being a Shark, doing all this. He sat on the Shark’s chair, he played, he was on Aman’s lap, Vineeta’s lap. He is growing up seeing this, it will be great for him.”

As per estimates, Radhika Gupta, the MD and CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Fund, boasts a net worth of around Rs. 41 crores. As the newest judge on Shark Tank, Radhika emphasizes that her investments in startups during Season 3 will come from her personal funds.

About her choice of sarees on the show and shared that she took personal interest in them. Radhika shared. “For the tank I did give inputs. I was very clear all my life since I was 15-16. I've loved wearing sarees. We hadn't seen sarees on the tank and so I think it was almost like a condition of mine that if I'm on the show I'm going to do sarees. I do think India has such a beautiful history of textiles and such a rich textile heritage and not enough young girls are wearing sarees so yes I took a lot of interest in making sure that we could present the sarees in cool ways.” Speaking more about her saree choices, the business entrepreneur added. “There was a rupee sari I did, which has become very popular. There's another jacket sari look, the traditional Banarasi sari. This one, an actual female entrepreneur from a small town in India made for me, seeing the rupee sari. So I took interest because I think everything you do is an opportunity to make an impact. We have a platform.