Is Mode Al Still in Business? (2026 Update)
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Look for Mode Al on AmazonFull story →David Lees pitched modular aluminium furniture designed to house television units and edit suites, wanting £225,000 for half the business, with Theo Paphitis and Duncan Bannatyne both offering money on camera.
Lees never took the cash. The business was already six years old and doing paid commercial work by the time it reached the studio.
A Loan Instead Of A Handshake
The business was already six years old and doing paid commercial work by the time it reached the studio, having launched back in 2001. Lees has said the broadcast set off competing offers from banks eager to lend him money, and his accountant steered him toward a loan rather than giving up equity.
So although Paphitis and Bannatyne agreed to the £225,000 figure on screen, that headline agreement never actually put either man on the company's books.
A Workshop Serving Broadcasters
One dated piece of trade coverage from 2010 describes a busy workshop turning out custom pieces, including matching desks and chairs built from the same aluminium extrusions, years after the broadcast.
This episode dates back to 2005, one of the earliest the show ever recorded, from a period before much business journalism bothered following up on Den companies once they left the studio. A bespoke furniture workshop serving broadcasters and studios directly can also run for years without needing any public-facing website at all.
Where To Look
A working business as of 2010 is a genuinely positive sign for a company that turned down the Den's money and financed itself instead.
Anyone chasing this specific product would get further searching the current company register directly than digging through old show recaps, since so little from this period of the series was ever properly documented online.