The Biggest Asks in Dragons Den History
Most Dragons Den pitches ask for a modest five figure sum, which makes the handful of entrepreneurs who walked in asking for six or seven figures stand out immediately. This list covers the biggest asks in our records, independent of whether the Dragons actually said yes.
Only two pitches in our data secured a deal at this scale, which tells you something about how rarely the panel is willing to write a truly large cheque on air.
Bee Automobiles, £2,500,000
Stephen Voller asked for £2,500,000 in return for 30% of Bee Automobiles in season 7, the single largest ask in our entire dataset by a wide margin.
It left without a deal, which is not surprising given the scale of the ask relative to almost everything else the show has ever seen.
Old London Underground Company, £2,000,000
Ajit Chambers asked for £2,000,000 in return for 51% of the Old London Underground Company in season 13, the second largest ask in our records, and left without a deal.
Offering to give up majority control did not change the outcome at this scale of investment.
Subeo, £1,450,000
Roberts Leeds and Guy Seymore asked for £1,450,000 in return for 45% of Subeo in season 8, and left the Den without a deal.
It is one of only a handful of pitches in our data to ask for more than a million pounds outright.
Housecrowd and Unique Automation, £1,000,000 each
Fraser Fearnhead's property platform Housecrowd asked for £1,000,000 for 5% in season 13, and Fredy Vasilev's Unique Automation asked for the same amount for 20% in season 11. Neither secured a deal.
Housecrowd's ask implies a £20 million valuation, the highest of any pitch in our entire dataset, which may explain why the Dragons were not willing to match it.
Bikeaway, £600,000
Jason Hamlyn asked for £600,000 in return for half of Bikeaway in season 15, and left the Den without a deal.
It sits well above most of the show's asks while still falling short of the seven figure tier at the very top of this list.
World Gourmet Restaurants Ltd, £500,000
Tayub Mushtaq and Afnan Bashir asked for £500,000 in return for 11% of World Gourmet Restaurants Ltd in season 11, and left without a deal.
It is one of the largest asks to come from a food and drink business in our entire dataset.
Zapper, £250,000 for 30%
Ben Hardyment's QR code payments platform asked for £250,000 in return for 30% of the business in season 10, and this is the largest ask in our full dataset that actually secured a deal.
Every ask above it on this list ended without an agreement, which puts Zapper's success in useful context.