“It’s a business of passion and community, but it isn’t an investment.” Meaden is OUT.

“That just leaves the local lass,” says Sara Davies. “Howay!”

However she is also OUT.

Deborah Meaden, who once put on wrestling matches in her holiday parks, says there is no demand for this.

Steven Bartlett seems to agree – he watched it as a kid with his brothers, but moved on to boxing and UFC when he grew up.

Bartlett is OUT.

Jones and Suleyman are also OUT – they agree that they can’t see a way to making any money from it.

Andrew is a graphic designer and consultant for another wrestling promotion – and despite turning a profit, is not currently paying himself anything from this business.

Peter Jones says a business like this needs a name like ‘The Rock’ to bring in the punters… might be aiming a bit high there.

The ‘heel’ forces his way through the lift doors and a fight ensues!

Andrew, who hails from the North East, is looking for £60,000 for a 25% share in his company.

Kicking off the night is entrepreneur Andrew Bowers, who is turning the Den into a wrestling ring as he pitches North Wrestling – his live pro-wrestling events company. 

Founded in 2016, the business hosts independent wrestling shows across the North East, combining high-energy entertainment with in-ring action. 

The events showcase both emerging UK talent and international stars, with some performers having gone on to appear in WWE.

Welcome to our live coverage of tonight’s episode of Dragons’ Den.

Premium global digital out of home (DOOH) supply-side platform VIOOH has partnered with London Lites – a DOOH media owner offering brands an affordable solution to target audiences in central London locations.

London Lites looks to offer brands the opportunity to connect with diverse London audiences through high-quality, cost-effective DOOH screens that can run static or full-motion campaigns.

The partnership gives advertisers programmatic access to 49 strategically placed premium LED screens generating 74.5 million monthly impressions, representing 23% of the London roadside digital OOH market.

Author: Patrick Killeen

A Derbyshire-based startup which appeared on Dragons’ Den back in January has seen record growth in the past nine months.

Since appearing on the BBC show, Mystery Jersey King founder Alex Street has seen his online business skyrocket, with sales more than doubling and growth hitting record levels.

The company gives customers an authentic jersey at random, often from top leagues and clubs around the world.

Since January 2025, the business has seen dramatic growth, with website traffic up 66%, revenue up 164% and orders up 165%.

Mondra has closed its Series A funding round, raising £10m from investors including AlbionVC, Planet A, Swisscom, PeakBridge, Ponderosa Ventures and Green Circle Foodtech Ventures.

The London firm has built digital twin technology to map complex, previously untraceable supply chains, creating a foundational framework for managing product-level performance from farm to fork.

It will now expand into key European markets including the Netherlands, Germany and France.

Mondra was developed in coalition with the British Retail Consortium (BRC), whose members include leading grocery retailers such as Tesco, M&S, Co-op, Ocado Retail, ASDA, Lidl, Aldi, Pets at Home, and Sainsbury’s; major suppliers including Avara, Samworth Brothers, Greencore, Pilgrim’s, Dunbia, Cranswick, and Bakkavor; and global brands such as Starbucks and Nando’s.

ITV, Centrica and Mail Metro Media are getting behind a national effort to mobilise millions more volunteers, as new research reveals charities anticipate a three million shortfall over the next year.

As Founder Members of GoVo, the new digital volunteering platform launched this week by the charity Royal Voluntary Service, the businesses will help champion volunteering across their national networks and pilot the platform ahead of its launch to corporates.

Built thanks to support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery, GoVo makes volunteering simple and more flexible. It has been developed in partnership with hundreds of national and local charities. It will launch to corporates later this year, enabling them to drive greater impact through employee volunteering.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Manchester-based property investment platform Mr Investa has officially closed after four and a half years in business.

Founder Ryan Hughes announced the news in an emotional LinkedIn post, revealing the toll the past 19 months have taken on his mental health.

“I am absolutely devastated,” he wrote. “After four and a half years, I’ve made the incredibly tough and sad decision to close Mr Investa.

“Smiling on the outside, hurting on the inside – that’s been my reality for the past 19 months.”

Founded in 2020 and based in Salford’s MediaCity, Mr Investa aimed to simplify buy-to-let investing through technology.

The platform connected landlords, agents and investors, offering virtual viewings, digital offers and management tools.

It quickly built a reputation as one of the North West’s most innovative PropTech startups, attracting funding and a loyal customer base, as well as gaining a spot on BusinessCloud’s PropTech 50 as recently as September.

Risers:

Molten Ventures – +12.63%

Rentokil Initial – +12.18%

London Stock Exchange Group – +7.09%

Fresnillo – +4.90%

Atalaya Mining – +4.90%

Fallers:

Renishaw – -4.98%

AJ Bell – -4.23%

WH Smith – -4.18%

St. James’s Place – -3.62%

Playtech – -2.47%

Manchester-based Autocab has signed a major partnership with zTrip, the largest taxi fleet operator in the US, to bring its advanced booking and dispatch technology to thousands of American vehicles.

The collaboration will see the company’s platform installed in 3,600 cars across 40 cities in 20 states, starting with Las Vegas, where the rollout is already live.

The software suite, which includes driver and passenger apps, automated call handling and data analytics, will improve dispatch efficiency and support smoother fleet operations.

Newcastle-based Notify Technology has launched Notify Spark – the first AI-powered platform designed to analyse workplace accidents.

The new tool uses AI to streamline the management of accident reports and investigations, helping organisations identify root causes and turn complex data into actionable insights.

Drawing on a database of more than 912,000 recorded incidents, it is said to be able to automatically generate safety briefings, executive summaries and toolbox talks, saving time and improving the quality of reporting.

A Newport-based FoodTech transforming wasted broccoli crops into sustainable, hypoallergenic protein ingredients has secured £3.5 million in new funding to accelerate its growth.

Upcycled Plant Power (UPP) has raised the funding from a £1.5m follow-on investment from Elbow Beach, £500,000 in government grants, and the conversion of £1.5m in existing loans to equity.

The funding will help the company scale production of its Harvesta robotic harvesting system and bring its Prota protein and Fiba fibre ingredients to market.

British fintech Revolut has secured a crypto licence in Cyprus, allowing it to expand its digital asset services across Europe.

The company said the move will support its plans to grow its crypto-related business, noting that around 20% of its customers currently trade cryptocurrencies.

London-based TrueLayer is set to acquire Zimpler, the Nordic region’s fastest-growing pay by bank network, creating one of Europe’s largest account-to-account payment providers.

The deal strengthens the firm’s position across key markets including Sweden and Finland and adds integration with the Swish payment rail.

The combined network will serve more than 20 million users, enhancing coverage, scale and efficiency across Europe.

AI FinTech startup Saturn has raised £11 million in Series A funding led by Singular, with backing from Shapers, Y Combinator and Zeno Ventures.

The funding will accelerate product development and expand the company’s AI-powered platform, which automates compliance and admin tasks for financial advisers.

Founded in 2023 by Amal Jolly, Michael Ettlinger and Rohit Vaish, the London-based firm’s mission is to make high-quality financial advice accessible to one billion people by drastically reducing the cost to serve each client.

Its compliance-focused AI aims to cut the time spent on suitability reports, onboarding and documentation from hours to minutes.

The business also plans to use the new capital to scale its technology, grow its team and further close the UK’s financial advice gap.

STRAT7 has appointed Pranay Jeyachandran as its new group managing director, a role created to strengthen collaboration across the global insights and analytics group.

Jeyachandran, previously managing director of STRAT7 Incite, will focus on deepening relationships with global enterprise clients and expanding access to the London company’s AI-driven capabilities.

He will work closely with the agency leadership teams to accelerate client growth and help businesses leverage the group’s AI Innovation Lab, which uses tools to help change how data is collected and translated into strategic insights.

STRAT7 combines human expertise with data and technology to help organisations better understand their markets, customers and competitors, supporting more informed decision-making and business growth.

Oxford University spinout Astut has raised £1.6 million in seed funding to commercialise its new “Hybrid AI” system, which is said to help organisations make decisions during crises where traditional AI fails due to a lack of historical data.

The round was co-led by East X Ventures and Sure Valley Ventures (SVV), with participation from UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S).

Founded earlier this year by Professor Pete Grindrod CBE, the firm’s technology combines logical reasoning with generative AI to support “High Stakes Unseen Decisions (HSUD)” – complex, one-off problems faced in sectors such as defence, energy, retail and finance.

Despite being only six months old, Astut is already in talks with potential pilot partners, including the Ministry of Defence and the UK’s fusion energy programme.