The Real Deal: Meet the Contestants Who Caught Investor's Eye

In the Elevator Pitch Challenge, our contestants were given 30 seconds in an elevator with our toughest investor, Jayesh Parekh, to sell him a random object. The contestant's objective was to interest Jayesh Parekh so much that he offered his business card signaling interest.

CEO and Founder of Janta Meals, Jesse van de Zand is seen here selling a colorful ball to Jayesh, as part of the Elevator Pitch Challenge, where our contestants were given 30 seconds in an elevator with our toughest investor, Jayesh Parekh, to sell him a random object. The contestant's objective was to interest Jayesh Parekh so much that he offered his business card signaling interest.

Siddhi Karnani, Co-Founder and Director at Parvata Foods Pvt Ltd, is seen here putting her best foot forward to pitch a tiny duck to Jayesh Parekh.
Known to be a passionate serial entrepreneur, Deep Bajaj, Co-Founder of PeeBuddy, managed to ace the Elevator Pitch and got Jayesh's business card.
Gayathri Vasudevan, CEO of LabourNet, a social enterprise based in Bangalore with a clear focus on enabling livelihoods and improving real income wages of the informal sector by improving worker skill and productivity, is seen here trying to sell a squishy ball.

The Co-Founder of FTCash, a PayPal backed startup in financial technology serving the underserved micro-merchants in India, Vaibhav Lodha contemplating his future in the elevator.
12 social entrepreneurs stand together in one spot, for the first time ever just on The Real Deal.
The judges watch the monitor to gauge the performance of each of the 12 contestants.

Akash Agarwal, Director & Co-Founder, New Leaf Dynamic Technologies, demonstrates the value of his snazzy glasses by putting them on. Do the glasses have x-ray?
Nikhil Dugal, Co-Founder, Aadhan Infrastructure, seems to have a deep and meaningful use for the object he is selling.
Another one gets the business card from Jayesh. Subodh Sangle, who's a Coordinator and Speaker for Mumbai Dabbawalas, delivered more than a dabba - a great a sales pitch.