The 25 Biggest Deals in Dragons’ Den History

Across 22 series of Dragons' Den, the panel has done 448 on-air deals worth a combined £17.8 million. Most of those cheques land in a narrow band, typically £50,000 to £80,000, for a slice of a small business that has never sold outside a market stall or a spare bedroom. The deals below are the exceptions. These are the ten biggest sums any Dragon has ever put on the table in the history of the show.

The Ten Biggest Deals in the Den

Two deals sit level at the top on £250,000. Steven Bartlett wrote the first of them alone, backing the fine jewellery line Kimaï for 3 percent in series 21. The second went to Yuv Beauty in series 22, where Bartlett and Sara Davies invested together for just 2 percent, one of the smallest equity slices ever attached to one of the show's largest cheques.

Theo Paphitis put up £200,000 for Gaming Alerts in series 5, taking 30 percent, a sizeable stake to match a sizeable sum. Deborah Meaden and Duncan Bannatyne matched that figure a season later for Pro Waste Management Services, taking 40 percent between them in series 6. Duncan Bannatyne alone backed The Wand Company, the gadget business behind the Kymera universal remote, for £200,000 and 30 percent in series 8.

Series 22 produced another entry at the same level. Steven Bartlett and Peter Jones together put £200,000 into Boot Bananas, the shoe-deodorising business, for 32 percent. Further down the list, Peter Jones alone backed Visual Talent Ltd for £175,000 and 40 percent all the way back in series 1, one of the largest cheques of the show's early years.

Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis teamed up for £160,000 into The Generating Company in series 2, taking 40 percent. Duncan Bannatyne and Richard Farleigh matched that sum for Igloo in series 4, at 22.5 percent. And Peter Jones with Duncan Bannatyne rounded out the top ten with £150,000 into Umbrolly in series 1, for 40 percent, one of two entries from that opening season.

What counts as big in the Den

The typical Dragons' Den deal runs £50,000 to £80,000, so anything at £150,000 or above is already well outside the norm, and the ten deals above all clear £150,000. Only six deals in the show's entire history have ever hit £200,000 or more, and just two have reached £250,000. When a Dragon writes a cheque that size, it usually means one of two things: either the business already has real revenue and the equity on offer is genuinely worth fighting for, or the founders have priced the deal generously enough in percentage terms that the risk is spread wide.

Early series versus recent series

It is worth noting how the list splits by era. Series 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8 all produced a top-ten deal in the show's first decade, when Duncan Bannatyne, Theo Paphitis and Peter Jones were the Dragons most often writing the largest cheques. Series 21 and 22 then supplied three more entries in quick succession, driven mostly by Steven Bartlett, whose willingness to pay £200,000 to £250,000 for single-digit equity stakes has made him the most aggressive spender on a percentage basis in the show's recent history.

Why the biggest deal isn't always the best one

A big headline number does not automatically mean a big win for the Dragon or the founder. Equity percentage matters just as much as the cheque size. Duncan Bannatyne and Deborah Meaden's £200,000 for 40 percent of Pro Waste Management Services bought a far larger stake than Steven Bartlett's £250,000 for 3 percent of Kimaï, even though the cash figures are close. A generous equity stake at a modest price can end up being the better investment if the business grows, while a huge cheque for a sliver of ownership only pays off if that business becomes genuinely enormous.

For founders, the lesson cuts the other way. Several of the businesses on this list, including The Wand Company and Reggae Reggae Sauce's Peter Jones-backed peers, went on to become some of the most enduring products to come out of the Den, proof that a big deal on the night is only the starting point, not the guarantee.

The bigger picture

Set against 448 total deals and £17.8 million invested across the whole show, these ten deals alone account for close to £2 million of that figure, a disproportionate share from just over 2 percent of all deals ever done. That concentration is typical of dealmaking generally: a small number of standout pitches attract a large share of the capital, while the bulk of deals cluster around that £50,000 to £80,000 median. If you are pitching in the Den, or just watching from the sofa working out what a good outcome looks like, these ten numbers are the ceiling the rest of the show is measured against.

1. 1
   The Wand Company

   Season 8 · Duncan Bannatyne

   £200,000

   for 30% · £667K valuation

2. 2
   Glassbusters

   Season 13

   £200,000

   for 30% · £667K valuation

3. 3
   Igloo

   Season 4 · Duncan Bannatyne + RichardFarleigh

   £160,000

   for 22.5% · £711K valuation

4. 4
   Rapstrap

   Season 6 · Duncan Bannatyne + JamesCaan

   £150,000

   for 50% · £300K valuation

5. 5
   Beezer

   Season 16

   £125,000

   for 15% · £833K valuation

6. 6
   Magic Whiteboard

   Season 6 · Deborah Meaden + Theo Paphitis

   £100,000

   for 40% · £250K valuation

7. 7
   Liquiproof

   Season 13 · Touker Suleyman

   £100,000

   for 50% · £200K valuation

8. 8
   Puresweet

   Season 18 · Peter Jones + TejLalvani

   £75,000

   for 10% · £750K valuation

9. 9
   The Snaffling Pig

   Season 14 · NickJenkins

   £70,000

   for 20% · £350K valuation

10. 10
    Billy+Margot

    Season 10 · Deborah Meaden

    £60,000

    for 40% · £150K valuation

11. 11
    Skinny Tan

    Season 11 · PiersLinney,KellyHoppen

    £60,000

    for 10% · £600K valuation

12. 12
    Beach Powder Ltd

    Season 18 · Touker Suleyman + Sara Davies

    £60,000

    for 49% · £122K valuation

13. 13
    Reggae Reggae Sauce

    Season 4 · Peter Jones + RichardFarleigh

    £50,000

    for 40% · £125K valuation

14. 14
    Nana's Manners

    Season 15 · Touker Suleyman

    £50,000

    for 30% · £167K valuation

15. 15
    Kerbo Charge

    Season 21 · Deborah Meaden

    £50,000

    for 6% · £833K valuation

Want the terms behind any of these? Every product page on the index has the full term sheet, the ask, the counter, and what the company was actually worth when the handshake happened.