Is First Light Solutions Still in Business? (2026 Update)
First Light Solutions has wound downAmazon still lists similar products in this category.
Browse similar products on AmazonFull story →Matthew Hazell pitched sonar technology meant to spot a crew member falling overboard and raise the alarm automatically, an ambitious safety idea from one of the Den's earliest seasons.
It folded years ago, struck off the official register.
A Bold Number, A Believer
Hazell reportedly floated a future valuation of £63 million for the business, a figure big enough to make several investors wary before the actual numbers were even discussed.
Richard Farleigh, known for taking on technical propositions the rest of the panel tended to avoid, put in the £100,000 requested for a 30 percent share.
Small Market, Big Costs
Specialist safety equipment for boats has a tiny buyer pool and demands rigorous testing before any operator will trust it, and a company without deep pockets can burn through its runway long before reaching that kind of scale.
Slow sales cycles paired with expensive certification work is a recurring reason ambitious hardware pitches from the show's early seasons failed to reach a second decade.
How It Ended
Industry write-ups covering the show's biggest flops name this company among them, and public filings confirm it was struck off the register around 2012.
The founder went on to other projects, reportedly including solar work, though the vessel safety business he built never resumed trading.