Dragons Den - The Deal that Floated Away from the Dragons

You may be surprised to hear that only a third (or thereabouts) of deals “agreed” on Dragons Den actually become completed investments. Sometimes the Dragons walk away after doing their due diligence into the potential investment. Occasionally the entrepreneur discovers that the business is worth much more than the investment agreed on-screen. Here is a great example of that…

This article in the Daily Mail describes how James Halliburton, the inventor of a sailing property safety device called the Waterbuoy, decided to step back from an agreed investment by the Dragons.

The Waterbuoy was featured in November 2007. I remember thinking it was a fantastic idea at the time, and three of the Dragons were keen to invest. During the show, Halliburton agreed a £200,000 investment from Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis - each investing £100,000 for a 12.5% stake.

However, when the time came to complete the legal niceties of the deal, Halliburton had been inundated with requests to stock the product, from a range of sailing-related distributors around the world. A key reason for accepting an investment from the Dragons (access to sales outlets) had been lessened in importance. So the investment was rejected. A brave move, but from the information in the article, probable a good one.

You can find out more about the Waterbuoy from its official website here