Dragons’ Den star turned £60,000 investment into £36,000,000 business empire

An entrepreneur has shared the success story of his Dragons’ Den pitch (Picture: BBC/Simon Pantling)

A Dragons’ Den star has created a £36million business from his initial investment on the BBC show.

Sam Jones appeared on the programme in 2021 to present his data control company Gener8, which he founded in 2018.

Asking for £60,000 in exchange for 10 per cent of the company, the entrepreneur managed to impress Tej Lalvani, 51, Touker Suleyman, 72, Peter Jones, 59, and Deborah Meaden, 66.

After receiving several offers, Sam decided to choose Touker and Peter as his new partners.

Now four years later, his company has grown by more than 500%.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, he explained how Tej also became an investor in his company.

Sam Jones appeared on the BBC programme in 2018 (Picture: BBC) Today, his company has undergone a massive transformation (Picture: BBC)

He said: ‘Tej said, “Sam I watched the pitch again last night, I know you didn’t choose me but I cannot miss this deal. Please, can I invest? I want to put £300,000 in, can I come on this journey?”

‘So then Tej came in as an investor even though he wasn’t chosen in the Den.

‘And then we had people like Harry Redknapp, Tinie Tempah, and Chris Gayle involved.’

Discussing the success his company has become today, he added: ‘Our revenue this year has grown by more than 500% and we’re on track to build a really, really exciting company that empowers people to earn and control from their own data.

‘The aim is to shoot for the stars and become a tech unicorn.’

The thought process behind his company was to help people gain ‘more control over their data, or the ability to get something back from it’.

Today, the company boasts more than 20,000 followers on Instagram.

Several of the Dragons were keen to invest in Sam’s data control company (Picture: BBC)

However, Sam’s success story certainly isn’t the first on Dragons’ Den after two other participants on the show revealed how their business was branded ‘delusional’ and a ‘disaster’ but is now worth £40million.

The creative duo behind Pasta Evangelists, Alessandro Savelli and Finn Lagun, stepped into the BBC lair in 2018 only to come away empty-handed.

The Pasta Evangelists CEO and his business partner asked for a £75,000 investment, in exchange for a 2.5% cut of the company.

But Jenny Campbell called the business ‘delusional’ and ‘a disaster’. H

Now, just seven years later, the company is worth around £40million and is set to open 100 new UK restaurants – including three in London, in Fulham, Queensway and New Oxford Street – in the next five years.

Dragons’ Den airs on BBC One and is available to stream on iPlayer.

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