Is Square Mile Still in Business? (2026 Update)
Dominic Killinger pitched Square Mile in season 2, offering wireless broadband access built specifically for the yachting community, using hotspots installed in marinas around the UK.
The short answer is that Square Mile as an independent company no longer exists. It was bought by BT in 2008, and the original company was formally dissolved a few years later.
What they pitched in the Den
Square Mile struck a deal of £150,000 for 40% of the business, backed jointly by Theo Paphitis and Peter Jones. Killinger's pitch was widely described afterwards as one of the programme's early success stories.
The idea filled a genuine gap: yacht owners in marinas had no reliable way to get online, so Square Mile built a wireless internet service provider network of hotspots specifically for that market, a niche most broadband providers had no reason to bother with.
Are they still trading?
No, not as an independent business. BT's Openzone division acquired Square Mile's marina wifi network, reported at the time to cover 39 coastal and inland marinas across the UK and Jersey, in a deal completed in early 2008.
Companies House confirms Square Mile Marina Limited, company number 06264832, was dissolved on 27 January 2012, consistent with the business being folded into BT's operations a few years earlier rather than continuing as a standalone company. BT's own Openzone wifi brand has itself since been retired as BT reorganised its wifi services, so the specific service Square Mile built no longer exists under either name.
What happened to the network?
The marina wifi hotspots Killinger built were absorbed into BT's much larger network rather than being switched off overnight, but that acquisition marked the end of Square Mile as the company the Dragons invested in.
For marina wifi today, current provision is far more likely to come from BT's broader consumer or business broadband arms, or from newer specialist marina connectivity providers, rather than from anything still branded Square Mile.