Expansion in hand as dragon backs Nursem
AHAND lotion company based in the North East has outlined its global ambitions after it won thousands of pounds of investment on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den.
Newcastle firm Nursem was founded three years ago by nurse Antonia Philp and her husband Jonny to make hand lotion which treats the skin condition contact dermatitis.
The condition is suffered by many NHS workers due to the number of times they need to wash their hands at work.
The duo recently appeared on Dragons’ Den, where they won over the investors and struck a deal for £75,000 with Tej Lalvani.
Mr Philp revealed the pitching process is a lot more intense than the short section shown on TV.
He said: “It’s a long day. We were filming in the afternoon but we had to be there from lunchtime onwards.
“We did quite a bit of filming before you see the dragons. Then you are in doing your pitch for two to two-and-a-half hours.
“You only see a 10 or 15-minute snippet of that on the TV.”
He added: “The offer was £75,000 for 1.5% and we did a deal with Tej Lalvani which was for £75,000 for 5%.
“If he gets his money back, it goes down to 3%.
“We had our red line at our limit and the game is to see if you could get them down.”
While Nursem was successful on the show, some of the televised deals never come to fruition as the dragons and the business owners then need to go through a due diligence period to make sure all parties involved are happy with the deal.
Fellow North East business Super U, which makes health drinks, also won investment from the dragons on the current series of the show.
However, since the filming of the episode the entrepreneurs have decided not to take the investment and are attempting to raise 10 times as much via a crowdfunding campaign.
Mr and Mrs Philp recorded the show in September 2020 and are still working with Mr Lalvani to finalise the investment deal.
Mr Philp said: “We have had a number of conversations with Tej but we haven’t confirmed any investment yet.
“The complicated thing you don’t see in the Den is you also have shareholders and you need to make sure all parties are happy.”
He added: “To be honest, having the backing of a dragon is about more than just the cash, it’s the connections and the networking they have.
“A business like Nursem is quite capital intensive. We were looking to get backing for product development, international expansion, and marketing.”
Nursem is now looking ahead and, following the investment, will aim to expand its international presence – along with launching a new product range.
The company has already launched in Europe but is aiming to take its hand care range to the US in the next year.
To do so, the company will need to make sure its products meet US standards, which can be a costly process.
Mr Philp added: “New products are absolutely the focus, along with our international expansion and continuing to grow in Europe.
“Short term we will serve that company from the UK but because of our growth plans having a team over in the United States and an office there is a mid-term ambition, just because it’s such a huge market it needs that attention.”
The company is also planning on releasing a new range of hand care products, including a hand sanitiser developed by a company which specialises in creating products for patients with compromised immune systems.
Nursem also intends to continue to carry out the Nursem Promise, which states that for every product purchased, the business will give a month’s worth of hand cream to a nurse or midwife.
The company has already brought that promise to Spain and hopes to replicate it in the US following the launch.
Mr Philp said: “To date, we have helped 175,000 health care professionals in the NHS.”