Couple tame the Dragons
GATESHEAD ‘super-food’ firm Super U has become the latest firm to emerge victorious from the Dragons’ Den, after winning £50,000 investment on the popular show.
Viewers watched as Sean Ali and Charlotte Bailey won over the panel of millionaire entrepreneurs, gaining a full house of offers matching the investment they went in for.
The pair launched Super U in 2017, offering a collection of superfood blends that was inspired by the couple’s own personal health struggles.
The couple, who now live in South Shields, had met at Nottingham Trent University, where Ms
Bailey was studying law and Mr Ali was taking a business management and economics degree.
Mr Ali had spent part of his studies in America, where he researched natural foods such as acai, baobab,
spirulina and acerola, which had become popular in the States in smoothies and protein shakes.
Ms Bailey had been struggling with her health, but it was only after being diagnosed with coeliac disease, and being placed on a strict gluten-free diet, that the pair realised how much her fatigue and digestive issues had been affecting her entire life.
She says incorporating superfood blends into her diet gave her a new lease of life, prompting the pair to launch Super U to give everyone a chance to sample their benefits.
After graduating, the pair worked with nutritional experts and doctors in functional medicine to create their own range of products to help support immunity, digestion, skin health, energy and focus.
After telling the Dragons about the business all five – Sara Davies, Peter Jones, Deborah Meadon, Tej Lalvani and Touker Suleyman – made the same offer of £50,000 for 5% equity. They eventually negotiated a joint deal with Tej Lalvani and Peter Jones for a £50,000 investment in return for 6% equity.
However, since the show was filmed last summer, they revealed the business has moved in a different direction – and they are now set to break into the US market.
And they won’t be using the £50,000 investment they secured on the BBC1 show – they are launching a crowdfund campaign to raise 10 times that amount.
Mr Ali said: “To cut a long story short, the deal’s not going through. We’ve decided to mutually walk away from the deal and we are preparing for a crowdfunding deal. Our pre-registration page went live on the night of the show.
“We’re going with Seedrs who we’ve raised with before, two weeks after the show.
“Instead of getting £50,000 for 6%, we’re attempting to raise £550,000 for 10%. Our big plan for this year is to launch in America in August/september time and we just felt that we need the money more. We’re an online business, and in an online call with Tej he was steering us towards retail, which we’re not that interested in right now, because of how well we’re doing as an online business.”
They had been due to appear on Dragons’ Den a few years ago – but it coincided just as disaster struck a year into the business.
In November 2018, Mr Ali was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of blood cancer, at the age of just 26. After chemotherapy and radiotherapy, he received the all-clear the following July.
He said: “I’m back to full health now but that was a bit of a knock.
“Thankfully the business kept growing and that July, when I got the all-clear, we raised £160,000 for 15% through Seedrs, and since then we’ve really kicked on.
“We finished our third year last year and did just under £500,000 as of last October and are projected to do £1.4m this year – but who knows what will happen after being on Dragons’ Den?
“We’re really hoping it will help the business take off.”