Aman Gupta has used a tongue‑in‑cheek post about “bhujia chips” to make a serious point about founder instinct, consumer brands and India’s startup priorities. In his latest update, the boAt cofounder wrote that while he “couldn’t make money in Nvidia chips”, he turned a ₹12 lakh cheque into ₹40 crore by backing a snacks startup almost no one else wanted—delivering a staggering 333x return in about four years.
The Piyush Goyal backdrop: ‘fancy ice creams and bhujia’
Gupta’s opening line is a clear, playful nod to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s speech at Startup Mahakumbh 2025, where the minister urged Indian founders and investors to move beyond low‑tech consumer ventures and focus on deep‑tech sectors like semiconductors, robotics, EVs and batteries. Goyal had criticised a rising wave of startups built around “fancy ice creams”, cookies and ultra‑fast grocery delivery, asking bluntly if India’s destiny was only “healthy ice‑cream, zero gluten‑free, whatever, vegan” instead of world‑class innovation.
In that speech, he even named Aman Gupta, saying “Aman Gupta, change your perspective in Shark Tank” and suggesting that Shark Tank India judges should back more deep‑tech, value‑creating ideas rather than just food and quick‑commerce brands. Gupta later publicly supported Goyal’s broader message—arguing on X and in interviews that the minister was simply asking founders to “dream bigger” and that India must compete with the best in deep‑tech while still celebrating consumer brands.
Against this backdrop, his new post—“I couldn’t make money in Nvidia chips. But I made money in Bhujiya chips”—works as a light, self‑aware counterpoint: you can miss out on the global AI‑chip boom and still create spectacular outcomes by backing the right Indian FMCG entrepreneur.
Inside the ‘bhujia’ bet: Let’s Try
The startup Gupta is talking about is Let’s Try, a snack brand that appeared in Season 1 of Shark Tank India. Founded by Nitin Vinod Kalra, Let’s Try makes chips, bhujia and other namkeen positioned as relatively “better” or “cleaner” alternatives, while still competing directly with mass players such as Haldiram’s.
When the company came to the tank, it was only six to seven months old, with about ₹16 lakh in sales over five months and a pitch of ₹45 lakh for 2% equity, valuing the business at roughly ₹3.75 crore. Several sharks passed, arguing that fried snacks in a cluttered market could not become a large, defensible company. Gupta and Anupam Mittal initially offered ₹45 lakh for 12%, but after due diligence Mittal stepped away, leaving Gupta as the sole investor.
Over time, Aman Gupta states he ultimately invested ₹12 lakh for around 7–8% equity in the company. As the brand scaled, its valuation has reportedly jumped to about ₹324 crore, implying roughly a 50x jump in valuation since the pitch. Gupta now says he has received a buyout offer worth ₹40 crore for his stake, translating into roughly a 333x multiple (~33,233% return) in four years, which he calls “the best outcome in Shark Tank India history.”
For context, this windfall sits in the same cultural moment where another snacks giant, Haldiram’s, has reportedly fetched a $10‑billion valuation in a deal with Temasek, prompting Anupam Mittal’s viral line: “Ek laakh crore ki bhujiya? Kamaal hai India.” Put together, both deals underline how “bhujiya chips” can be as powerful a wealth‑creation engine as any cutting‑edge tech, if executed right.
Why Aman Gupta is emphasising instinct over spreadsheets
In his post, Gupta stresses that he is “not an Excel sheet investor” and that he backs “founders, not formulas.” He recounts that most “Excel‑sheet investors” dismissed Let’s Try because:
- The market was crowded with large incumbents.
- The product was fried, not obviously “healthy” or deep‑tech.
- Early numbers were small and did not justify aggressive projections.
What tipped the scale for him, he says, was the founder’s aag—the hunger, obsession and clarity that the team brought to the pitch and subsequent execution. In multiple interviews, Gupta has said that he believed the founder would “do something big” even if the category looked commoditised, and that this conviction mattered more than any spreadsheet‑based TAM or margin analysis.
By calling this the “best investment in Shark Tank India history” and explicitly contrasting Nvidia chips with bhujia chips, Gupta is making three layered points:
- Consumer brands are not second‑class startups. They can generate outsized returns and global‑scale outcomes, just like deep‑tech, especially in a country where packaged foods and snacks are massive, under‑penetrated categories.
- Instinct and founder‑market fit still matter. In early‑stage investing, especially in FMCG, the founder’s tenacity, distribution hustle and brand‑building skill can trump neat financial models or market‑share spreadsheets.
- Deep‑tech vs FMCG is a false binary. Gupta has publicly agreed that India must build more in semiconductors and AI, but his own portfolio shows that there is plenty of legitimate, high‑impact value to be created in “simple” products if they are scaled well.
Where Let’s Try is today
Public disclosures on Let’s Try’s exact revenue and funding remain limited, but post‑Shark Tank coverage indicates a sharp growth curve:
- Within a couple of years of the show, the brand scaled from ₹16 lakh in five‑month sales to crores in annual revenue, expanding its distribution across modern trade and online marketplaces.
- It positioned itself as a slightly premium alternative—about 15% more expensive than some legacy snacks—while leaning on taste, perceived quality and packaging to win repeat customers.
- The recent ₹40‑crore purchase offer for Gupta’s stake implies a roughly ₹324‑crore valuation, confirming serious investor interest and institutional capital circling the brand.
In other words, Let’s Try has crossed the line from “Shark Tank curiosity” to a scaled, investable FMCG story operating in the same broad universe that global investors like Temasek now take seriously through deals like Haldiram’s.
What this says about India’s startup narrative
Aman Gupta’s post lands at an interesting intersection: a government push for deep‑tech, a public debate around “fancy ice cream and bhujia” startups, and a concrete example of how an unfashionable snacks brand has delivered generational returns. By half‑joking that he missed Nvidia but nailed bhujia, he implicitly argues that India’s startup ecosystem can—and should—do both:
- Build deep‑tech, capital‑intensive companies that push the frontier in chips and AI, as Piyush Goyal is urging.
- And simultaneously nurture execution‑heavy, brand‑driven consumer businesses that turn everyday products like namkeen into multi‑hundred‑crore companies and life‑changing outcomes for founders and early backers.
For now, Let’s Try serves as the poster child for that second path—and for Gupta, a timely reminder that sometimes, the biggest wins come not from the hottest global narratives, but from spotting the right founder in a category everybody else thinks is too boring to back.
Check out Aman Gupta’s post here:
