Dragons’ Den rejects who went on to earn a fortune – from £65MILLION empire loved by celebs to takeaway giant
PLENTY of entrepreneurs have left the Dragons’ Den empty handed – but some savvy former contestants have gone on to earn a fortune anyway.
One unsuccessful candidate’s genius product even went on to build a £65m empire.
From one genius hair tool to a household takeaway company, many former Dragons’ Den contestants have made their millions off the show.
Here’s a run down of some of the most lucrative missed opportunities to come from the show.
Tangle Teezer
Shaun Pulfrey must have felt like tearing his hair out when Duncan Bannatyne told him his business wouldn’t make any money in 2007.
Hairdresser Shaun was asking for £80,000 in exchange for 15 per cent of his Tangle Teezer hairbrush designed to painlessly get rid of knots.
His pitch went awry when one of the combs snapped, and Deborah Meaden likened the product to a horse brush.
Shaun left without investment but refused to give up on his dream.
He remortgaged his flat and poured £98,000 of his own cash into the company – which quickly exploded.
After shifting 35,000 brushes in its first year, the company is now worth an estimated £65million.
Grimsby-born Shaun has sold most of his shares to Mayfair Equity Partners in a deal that values the company at £70 million, Business Live reported.
And it’s even been backed by supermodels like Cara Delevingne and Victoria Beckham who love the product.
Hungryhouse
Shaun isn’t the only unlucky contestant who left the show only to go on to make a fortune.
Takeaway giant Hungryhouse is another businesses which rose to success after it was pitched on the show.
Shane Lake and Tony Charles pitched their online takeaway ordering business Hungryhouse back in 2007.
James Caan and Duncan Bannatyne saw its potential and collectively stumped up £100,000 in exchange for each getting a quarter of the business.
But four months after leaving the den, Caan backed out of the deal.
That setback didn’t hurt Hungryhouse’s fortunes, however.
The firm soon found £150,000 from different investors and, by 2016, it had 10,000 restaurants on its platform.
Just Eat later paid £200m to buy Hungryhouse, its biggest UK competitor, from the German group Delivery Hero in 2016.
It has promised to hand over another £40m if the company hits performance targets.
And that’s not the last of it either.
Brewdog
The biggest missed opportunity in Dragons’ Den history didn’t even make it to air.
In 2008, James Watt and Martin Dickie applied to go on the programme with their craft brewing business, BrewDog.
The pals were invited to do a screen test and pitched their plan to the show’s producers.
But bosses decided the company wasn’t worthy of investment, and the pair never even got to pitch directly to the dragons.
“We were totally crushed,” BrewDog CEO James wrote on LinkedIn earlier this year.
“We were prepared to offer the dragons 20 per cent for £100,000.
“Based on our latest BrewDog valuation, that investment would now be worth almost £360m, meaning the dragons missed out on by far the best deal in den history.
“We got over the rejection eventually. But it took a while.”
It’s unclear if the dragons got over it – or if remembering the blunder still leaves them needing a stiff drink.
Trunki
Rob Law was left red-faced when Theo Paphitis pulled the handle off his Trunki, a ridable suitcase for children.
“You shouldn’t come here with problems that can be solved,” Paphitis said, questioning the quality of Rob’s product.
“It drives me mad that we waste our time with these things.”
Aussie dragon Richard Farleigh did make Rob a £50,000 offer in return for 10 per cent equity – but that was only half of what Rob wanted.
The budding businessman decided to leave the Den without a deal and go his own way.
By 2016, a decade on from appearing on the show, Trunki had sold more than three million suitcases in over 100 countries around the world, and it had a turnover of £9.5million by 2018.
Nuud
Keir Carnie’s plastic-free chewing gum landed a huge supermarket contract after he was rejected by the Dragons.
His plant-based Nuud gum ultimately didn’t land the £50,000 investment that he asked the dragons for, with Deborah Meaden fearing that big markets would ruin the company’s prospects.
Since appearing on the BBC show, Carnie has proved her wrong by bagging a huge deal that will see Nuud sold in 260 Waitrose stores across the UK.
Cup-a-Wine
For wine-lovers everywhere, James Nash entered the Den with his unique concept, Cup-a-Wine – a pre-filled, sealed, single serve, ready to drink glass of wine.
The entrepreneur wanted £250,000 for 25% of his business.
The Mirror reported he revealed each goblet costs him 38p and he sells to wine brand owners for 52p to distribute.
But the Dragons were not convinced.
A year later, James got a cash injection from a private investor and secured a deal with M&S.
They launched Le Froglet wine nationwide to general acclaim and the business is now worth millions.