Bite-size news in business & technology, from big breaking stories to funding, appointments & deals
Published: October 2, 2025 at 8:45 pm
They’re asking Bartlett to come down to 4%.
The Flight Story entrepreneur counters with £80k for 5%.
They agree on £90k for the 5%.
Bartlett works with a few brands of this type with his Flight Story business – including podcasts.
Published: October 2, 2025 at 8:43 pm
Meaden offers them the £60k for 4%.
Davies will go as low as 3.5% for the money.
Jones says it’s not interesting enough to him as a business proposition. He’s OUT.
Bartlett, who stopped drinking a few years ago, says he’s been waiting for this product. He’s asking for 5% of the business. “Daylight robbery!” says Suleyman.
They’re now having a row… Suleyman says he has 50 years of experience, “more in my little finger than you!”
Suleyman is interested but OUT.
Published: October 2, 2025 at 8:39 pm
They are looking for £60k for 2% of the business, which has attracted 23,000 new customers in last six months alone.
They have raised around £1.1m funding so far as the startup is loss-making.
All the Dragons like the product. Meaden and Davies are fighting over the drink, it tastes so good!
Published: October 2, 2025 at 8:32 pm
Bethan Higson and Alice Galsworthy arrive next with Mother Root, a non-alcoholic aperitif made from organic ingredients.
Higson came up with the idea in 2018 while pregnant and craving a grown-up drink without the alcohol content.
Mother Root Ginger is made with organic apple cider vinegar, blossom honey, ginger juice and a touch of chilli for warmth.
Served with soda water, each 500ml bottle can stretch to around 20 drinks.
It retails for just under £30 on Amazon and directly via the company’s own site.
Published: October 2, 2025 at 8:31 pm
Peter Jones says he loves the product – he’s applied the shea butter and his hands are the softest they’ve ever been – but the numbers don’t stack up…
Steven Bartlett says “it feels like you’re trying to employ me!” after the pair said they are looking for help with marketing.
Jones is OUT.
Touker Suleyman is OUT.
Deborah Meaden is OUT. “The numbers really aren’t good. It’s just not working for me.”
Sara Davies loves the product but is OUT. She says you’re investing in the person, not the product – and the numbers tell a story. But she will leave them a nice review on their product!
Bartlett says the odds of them succeeding are as good as winning the lottery. And he ain’t betting £100k on that! He’s also OUT.
Published: October 2, 2025 at 8:24 pm
They have several years of operation behind them – but the Dragons want to know about P&L.
And they’ve made losses year after year after year… they won’t even be profitable this year.
They’re looking to move to a direct-to-consumer model as they’re effectively being penalised by retailers for not providing stock at scale.
Published: October 2, 2025 at 8:19 pm
Next to step into the Den are Liha Okunniwa and Abi Oyepitan, the duo behind Liha Beauty.
Founded in 2014, their brand combines African botanicals with English aromatherapy traditions.
The product range, which includes body oils, cleansers, balms and raw shea butter, is sourced ethically from Nigeria and Ghana.
Already attracting celebrity fans such as Lenny Kravitz and FKA Twigs, Liha Beauty is stocked on its own website and through major retailers including Sephora.
Published: October 2, 2025 at 8:17 pm
He asks whether all three will come in at 5% each… while each giving £100k.
They’re not having that – after some negotiation, they agree to give him £50k each – a combined £150k – for a combined 15% of the business.
“Having three Dragons involved is going to be really, really helpful,” he says.
The Dragons say they are betting on the brains as much as the business.
Published: October 2, 2025 at 8:13 pm
Peter Jones will give him the £100k, but for 12.5%…
Deborah Meaden undercuts him with £100k for 10%…
Touker Suleyman also makes an offer – £100k for 10% – and says he can help him lower the cost of the device…
Sara Davies is OUT…
Steven Bartlett is also OUT… he says Pippa could become “massive”, but also could become “nothing”.
Published: October 2, 2025 at 8:09 pm
Dr Sam is asking for £100,000 for 5% equity.
He’s a key figure behind LeakBot, a listed InsurTech which is expanding around the US. He also worked on early self-driving cars.
The AI software inside Pippa is all developed by the company itself.
Published: October 2, 2025 at 8:04 pm
The pitches begin with Samuel Bailey, an inventor who believes he can make kitchens safer.
His company, Pippa, has developed a wall-mounted device designed to spot problems before they turn into disasters.
Using sensors to monitor the temperature of pans on the stove, the gadget can give audible warnings minutes before a fire risk develops.
If you’ve left the house, it can send a text or even call you to alert you, though that feature requires a £39.99 annual subscription on top of the £179.99 device price.
Published: October 2, 2025 at 8:00 pm
Mad dash to put my daughter to bed before the show starts – I’m even in time to catch the end of EastEnders.
It seems Stacey amd Max are still going strong – it’s probably 15 years since I last clapped eyes on the Square!
Published: October 2, 2025 at 7:55 pm
Many faces have entered and exited the lair of the Dragons on the BBC – but one face has been an ever-present.
Peter Jones CBE has sat in the chair since the very first episode of Dragons’ Den in 2005 and remains the only original Dragon still on the panel.
At 6ft 7in, he has become the show’s most recognisable figure; but behind the on-screen persona is a career built on early setbacks, high-street revivals, international television formats and a commitment to enterprise education.
But who is he? And what dos he get up to at home?
Published: October 2, 2025 at 7:46 pm
Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, Steven Bartlett and the departing Sara Davies will once again hear pitches from founders convinced their ideas can stand the heat of the Den.
But who is set to enter first?
Published: October 2, 2025 at 7:00 pm
The BBC’s long-running business show Dragons’ Den returns for the final part of its 22nd series, nine months after the season began, at 8pm tonight.
The show resurfaced for a single summer episode before vanishing again, but the Dragons are back in their chairs on Thursday 2nd October – and this time, the series will run through to the end of the month.
Follow the pitches live here from 8pm!
Published: October 2, 2025 at 5:03 pm
Media and telecommunications giant Sky is back in the green after a huge turnaround, bouncing back from a £773 million loss in 2023.
The Comcast-owned firm has posted a pre-tax profit of £253m for its 2024 financial year, in accounts filed on Companies House.
Revenue for the year also increased slightly to £10.3 billion.
In September, the London-headquartered business reported that it is to make roughly 600 tech roles redundant as it moves away from the development of new technology platforms.
Published: October 2, 2025 at 4:24 pm
Charlton Athletic’s home ground, The Valley, is set for a major digital revamp this October following a new partnership with stadium technology specialists ADI.
Nearly 600m² of new digital screens and signage will be installed, creating one of the largest digital platforms in UK football.
The upgrade is designed to transform the matchday experience for fans while opening up fresh commercial opportunities for the recently-promoted Championship side and its partners.
As part of the deal, Preston-based ADI will manufacture and install the new hardware as well as manage matchday content, which will be delivered via its Live Venue remote broadcast fibre network.
Published: October 2, 2025 at 4:09 pm
Greater Manchester agency Unhooked Communications has secured funding from Innovate UK’s Create Growth Programme to develop a new AI-powered platform for measuring PR impact.
The tool, being built in partnership with innovation firm Big Echo, will help PR teams and organisations move beyond traditional metrics like media reach by tracking outcomes linked to reputation, behaviour and commercial results.
Only 6.5% of applicants were successful in this competitive funding round, which awarded grants of up to £50,000 to creative SMEs across the UK.
Published: October 2, 2025 at 3:44 pm
The government’s decision to withdraw funding has a direct impact to both employer and employees across all sectors of the economy including manufacturing, service industries, tech, financial services, construction and engineering.
The withdrawal of funding will have an impact – not just on the SME sector but also global corporates. – on senior leader roles across all UK companies.
It will mean that after the 1st January 2026 employers will now have to pay £14,000 per employee if they choose to put employees on the L7 senior leader programme.
The cost is likely to also be prohibitive to employees looking at the options of self-funding.
Overall investment into apprenticeships drives economic growth and the reduction of employees taking the L7 senior leader program will impact that growth.
The longer-term impact for UK companies will also be felt in senior leadership roles with not enough talented future leaders coming through the executive leadership pipeline.
In turn, this will have an impact on business growth and GDP.
Published: October 2, 2025 at 3:22 pm
Cineworld is set to host the first-ever podcast premiere in cinemas, with The Diary of a CEO episode featuring Louis Tomlinson screening exclusively across UK, Ireland and US Regal cinemas on October 8th.
The one-night-only event will give fans early access to the episode before its global release, offering a unique chance to experience Steven Bartlett’s podcast on the big screen.
The show is expected to cover Tomlinson’s life, loss and fame to a shared, cinematic setting.
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