The owners of an AI-powered video editing technology firm have revealed they’re selling the business.
Durham-based tech business Choppity made headlines earlier this year when it was at the centre of a three-way bidding war on the hit BBC show Dragons’ Den.
Millions of viewers saw Sara Davies and Touker Suleyman both make offers before the firm’s married co-founders – Zara Paul and Aaron Morris – eventually picked Jones, who offered £100k in exchange for 15 per cent of the business
At the time Jones gushed: “They’re the best we’ve seen in the Den.”
However, after the show aired, it emerged the longest-serving Dragon decided not to proceed with his offer and never spoke to the entrepreneurs again after that day.
Paul, who was the first openly non-binary contestant on the show, stressed at the time the decision was amicable but admitted they’d hoped Jones would have been the perfect investor.
Yesterday, Paul took to LinkedIn to reveal the pair were selling Choppity.
They said: “It still feels surreal to say that publicly.
“Earlier this year, we had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to appear on Dragons’ Den.
“The exposure Choppity got was incredible, and it felt like a celebration of everything we’d built – just the two of us, bootstrapped from our living room to $150k ARR.
“There was no funding, no team – just two people, a lot of stubbornness, and a shared obsession with making video editing faster and more accessible.
“Eventually, we hit burnout. That pause gave us space – to reflect, recover, and get incredibly excited about what we’re building next.
“But today is about Choppity. It’s moving on to new owners – people who care about it deeply and will take it further than we ever could. We’re excited to share more on that in the coming months.”
Details of the deal and the new owners have not yet been revealed. Paul and Morris are still listed as directors at Companies House.
Paul added: “To everyone who supported us, shared kind words, gave feedback, tested features, or simply believed in what we were building – thank you. You had a real impact.
“And to our past selves: Your mission is bigger than you can even see right now. Keep going – you’ll get there. Onwards – to bigger and better things.”
It’s estimated that around half of investments on Dragons’ Den never go through.
Speaking at the time, Paul admitted that they and Morris were disappointed not be working with Jones but understood that this was always a possibility.
Writing later on LinkedIn, Paul said: “To clarify, Peter Jones did not pull out of the planned investment, we simply parted ways because the deal no longer made sense for us.
“It’s also not abnormal to be contacted by an investment manager, especially on behalf of somebody as busy as Peter Jones!
“We had just hoped for a larger involvement on his part which is why we accepted the offer in the first place, and when we realised this wouldn’t be the case, it no longer made sense for us.”
Jones, who is thought to be worth between £500m-£1bn, has not commented publicly on why he changed his mind.