Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I’M IN... ER , NO I’M NOT
£1.3M OF OFFERS IN DRAGON’S DEN COME TO NOTHING
NEARLY half the entrepreneurs who thought they’d bagged investment in Dragons’ Den ended up getting nothing after the cameras stopped rolling.
More than £1.3million offered to back their ideas on two series of the hit BBC2 show never materialised.
It emerges as the programme returns for a 17th series tonight with Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman and Tej Lalvani and newcomer Sara Davies.
One contestant who bagged an offer of £50,000 for a 20 per cent stake in his baked beans firm which never took off said: “Dragon’s Den is very much a game show before it is an investment vehicle.”
The BBC told us due diligence sometimes revealed things weren’t how they seemed on air after a detailed look at the firm’s books. A show insider said: “That’s business. Sometimes things don’t work out.”
But many show fans cheering on their favourites and their new inventions or zany ideas will never know the investment offered by Dragons may not materialise.
The figures emerged as the Sunday Mirror analysed series 13 and 14 to see where the entrepreneurs who appeared in the show are now. Companies House records for businesses featured on more recent series are not yet complete. Of 45 contestants offered money, 18 ended up going it alone.
The likes of Snaffling Pig pork scratchings made it big after series Dragon Nick Jenkins invested £70,000 for a 20 per cent stake.
Sales rose from £420,000 to £5.2m, while at fashion brand Iveson & Sage a joint investment by Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones at £78,000 helped boost turnover to £2.3m.
But official files show £1,344,500 of the investment offered to other
companies was never invested. Some said the publicity they got from the show was enough to see their businesses take off without the Dragons.
But others were not so lucky. Firms who never received offers include Mason’s Beans, run by Ben Mason.
He bagged a £50,000 offer for 20 per cent equity from Moonpig.com founder Nick Jenkins in season 13.
But getting Ben’s beans onto shelves proved an impossible task, and he wound the company up. Ben said Nick was “enormously helpful”, but added “the business had insurmountable challenges. It’s a lot of work to participate, but investment opportunities are small compared to those available through conventional routes.”
DISAGREEMENTS
Jacob Thundil’s coconut food firm Cocofina bagged a £75,000 promise for five per cent from Nick and fellow Dragon Sarah Willingham but the deal fell through. Jacob told us there were disagreements over direction, so Cocofina – already selling to Harrods – went it alone. He said: “The Dragons did help me make my business stronger.” Polly Gotschi won an offer of £37,500 from Sarah Willingham for 40 per cent of her firm Vitiliglow, a make-up product for sufferers of skin condition vitiligo. But even though her deal never came through, for “several reasons”, she said: “The publicity generated helped raise awareness of my product and the condition.”
Simon Heap’s Rugged Interactive won a £100,000 offer for 30 per cent of his business from Dragons Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones in series 14. They liked his interactive fitness games, but after the cameras stopped rolling they couldn’t agree on a deal.
Simon, who appeared with his associate Martin Worth, claimed he wanted detail on what help the Dragons would offer – but said it never came. He said: “We were already doing well so to give away the equity seemed the wrong decision.” His firm now exports to the USA and Europe.
Series 13 also saw Deborah Meaden offer £35,000 to Cath Harrop, in exchange for 25 per cent of Mum2Mum Market, which helps parents sell used children’s clothes.
Even though Cath never got the money, she said: “The publicity meant I more than doubled the size of my business in a month.”
Gary MacDonough, who had £3 in the bank before he pitched dating app Double with his business partners, did manage to get £75,000 for 15 per cent of the business from Nick Jenkins.
But even though the business then failed, Gary said “Overall it was a great experience and opened a lot of doors.”
A BBC spokesman said: “We are proud of the brilliant success rate of deals and upward trajectory of businesses after their time in the Den.
“All the successful entrepreneurs enter into rigorous due diligence with the Dragons once a deal has been struck and, as is often the case in the real world, deals can fall through.”