Latest news with #Dabba
Daily Mirror
31-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
'I was rejected 5 times on Dragons' Den but now my profits have doubled'
A Dragons' Den entrepreneur has revealed she's grateful to have not secured investment on the BBC One competition. A Dragons' Den contestant has admitted she's grateful to have not secured investment on the BBC One competition. Anshu Ahuja entered the Den in an episode that aired tonight, hoping to seek £100,000 for 3 percent of her business, DabbaDrop. The founder and her business partner had built up their sustainable takeaway business, inspired by the dabbawala system of Mumbai, in 2018, and had valued the business at more than £3,000,000 just a few years later. The entrepreneur was looking for investment from the likes of Peter Jones, Sara Davies, Touker Suleyman, Deborah Meaden, and Steven Bartlett to help upscale DabbaDrop and encourage its growth outside of London. However, despite her inspirational ethics behind the sustainable product, and the fact that DabbaDrop had turned over more than £800,000 in its latest year, Anshu failed to convince the Dragons to invest. In fact, Peter encouraged her to 'pivot' on one key part of her business model, while Touker called the valuation 'crazy' and Sara feared DabbaDrop was in 'distress.' Yet despite their comments and not securing an investment from Dragons' Den, Anshu has had no regrets. In an exclusive interview, she reflected on Touker's harsh remark on their valuation, saying: 'We had done quite a lot of work going into Dragons' Den and our own fundraising round, so the £4million valuation was independently valued, based on our £850,000 revenue and a lifetime value of the 1,500 subscribers at that point of nearly £400 per subscriber. At that point, we also had a 1,000-person waiting list, which is currently, even before airing, standing at 4,000 people.' Anshu knew it was a 'risk' to go on national TV and pitch her business, but was willing to take the leap as the team was fundraising for DabbaDrop at the time of being approached for the show. They'd already received interest from more than 2,000 investors, had reached millions of views on an Instagram reel, and pledged more than £1,000,000. 'It is risky going on national TV, but why not? Let's take the ris,k and it might be worth it," she said. 'Also, the opportunity to talk to five smart, brilliant people was what I was most excited about, being up there talking about our story and our vision, all about the Dabba dream, and having them dissect it and come up with interesting ideas of how to take it further. 'I know it sounds mad, but I was thrilled about being chosen to have that conversation, regardless of what happened at the end.' With the help of the investors and support they've received, Anshu already has plans for DabbaDrop to expand with more products and to build new hubs in other cities, after demand for the service across the world in Mumbai, New York, and Sydney. 'It's not just us that believe in it, there are investors across the world who think this is a great idea and have the same sort of vision for it as we do,' she said. Since going on Dragons' Den, before the episode had aired, Anshu revealed that the company had already doubled its number of subscribers and profits. She reflected:' We've really taken the advice that the Dragons gave us to work at bettering our model. Actually, in a lot of ways, I'm glad we didn't get the investment, and look at how great we're doing, we've used that moment to go away and think about how we can be better. 'I'm really proud of how far we've come in just a year with no help.' 'I have absolutely no regrets,' she declared. 'It was worth every minute of that grilling, even Touker saying, 'You just take other people's money and go and spend it.' It was worth all that stress, chaos, and embarrassment. It was worth it, I'm still smiling.'
India Today
30-06-2025
- India Today
Surat Police busts Rs 943 crore dabba trading, online betting racket; 8 arrested
Surat Police busted a Dabba trading and online gaming racket worth Rs 943 crore. Eight accused have been arrested in connection with the scam, which operated under the guise of a real estate office named 'Sunrise Developers'.The investigation has so far identified over 250 people involved in the illegal online trading and betting network. The accused used illegally developed software to generate user IDs and passwords for on a tip-off, the police raided the office and uncovered two major illegal activities: unauthorised Dabba trading and betting on live sports and casino games via banned platforms. Police revealed that the operators attracted clients by offering tax-free profits and the option to use black money, promising zero losses. Rajdeep Singh Nakum, Deputy Commissioner of Police, confirmed that financial transactions totalling Rs 943 crore were traced through the trading and gaming applications. Additionally, transactions worth Rs 4.62 crore were found in various bank accused used unregistered software like 'Castillo 9' and 'Stock Grow' to conduct Dabba trading, an illegal form of stock trading without SEBI they ran betting operations on platforms such as ' ' 'PavanExch,' and 'English999,' focusing on football, cricket, tennis, and casino an attempt to destroy evidence, the accused used a paper-cutting machine found at the office to shred transaction records, particularly those involving black main masterminds behind the racket are Nandlal alias Nando Vitthalbhai Gevriya and his cousin Vishal alias Vicky Mansukhbhai is a repeat offender with a previous case related to online gaming and betting. Others arrested include Bhavesh Jinabhai Kihla, Jaideep Kanjibhai Pipaliya, and Navneet Chaturbhai Gevriya, who managed the financial Arvindbhai Hirpara and Bakul Maganbhai Tarsaria, who developed the software, and Sahil Mukeshbhai Suvagia, who made customer calls, have also been taken into had reportedly been active in such activities for over a decade and had been running this illegal operation under the 'Sunrise Developers' banner for the last 18 police seized items worth Rs 17.30 lakh from the office, including 19 mobile phones, four laptops, Rs 10.05 lakh in cash, 13 SIM cards, 31 bank passbooks, 87 chequebooks, two debit cards, a colour printer, and a paper-cutting confirmed that the accused evaded various taxes, including the Securities Transaction Tax (STT), causing significant losses to the government. The police are now pursuing the absconding accused, Javed alias JD and Parimal Kapadia.- Ends IN THIS STORY#Surat#Gujarat
