Product Update
Is Bug Bakes Still in Business? (2026 Update)
Is Bug Bakes from Dragons’ Den still around in 2026? The deal it made, the dragons who invested, and where to buy Bug Bakes today.
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Bug Bakes makes dog food and treats using insect protein, pitched as a more sustainable alternative to conventional meat-based pet food. The short answer to whether it is still in business is yes, even though the deal shown on air never actually completed.
The Short Answer
Bug Bakes is still trading, selling insect-based dog food and treats through its own website and stockists such as Pets of the Earth. It does not appear to sell through Amazon. The company has grown well past the point where the original Dragons' Den investment mattered much to its survival.
This is a genuinely interesting case for anyone trying to understand how these deals actually play out once the cameras stop rolling, since the on-air outcome and the eventual business reality diverged more sharply here than in most of the pitches we cover.
The Pitch
Bug Bakes appeared in Series 17, Episode 11. Founder Ross Lamond, a University of Glasgow alumnus, asked for £50,000 in exchange for 50 percent of the business, pitching dog food and treats made from insect protein as a lower-impact, more sustainable option than traditional meat-based pet food.
Touker Suleyman was the only Dragon to make an offer, taking the full £50,000 for the full 50 percent stake originally on the table, an aggressive but complete-ask deal that Lamond accepted in the studio.
Insect protein as a pet food ingredient was, at the time, a genuinely novel pitch for UK television, built on the argument that farming insects for protein uses a fraction of the land, water and feed required for conventional livestock. That environmental case, backed by a founder willing to give up half the company to get the business off the ground, is what appears to have won Suleyman over.
The Deal That Never Completed
A handshake in the Den is not the same as a signed, funded deal, and this is one of the clearer examples of that gap. Although Suleyman and Lamond agreed terms on camera, the investment never actually completed once the negotiations continued off-screen.
That kind of collapse happens more often than viewers might assume. Due diligence, valuation disagreements, or simply a founder deciding the terms no longer suit the business once the cameras are gone can all derail a deal that looked done on television. Giving up half a company is a steep price, and it would not be surprising if further negotiation after filming led either side to reconsider.
What Happened Instead
Rather than folding without Dragon backing, Lamond went out and built his own funding round, bringing in a notably high-profile set of backers: TV presenter Davina McCall and musician Peter Gabriel both invested, alongside experts from within the pet food industry. That's a strong outcome for a founder whose television deal fell through.
Since then, Bug Bakes has continued marketing insect protein as a genuinely sustainable pet food option and has kept its retail presence growing, both direct and through specialist pet stockists. Attracting investors of that profile outside the show suggests the underlying pitch, sustainable pet food built on insect protein, held up well beyond the studio.
The Gap Between the Handshake and the Cheque
Bug Bakes is a good case study in why we always separate the on-air handshake from what actually happens with the money afterwards. A deal being shown on television means the two sides shook hands under studio lights and agreed to move forward. It does not guarantee the money changes hands, the paperwork gets signed, or the relationship survives the weeks of due diligence that follow filming.
Founders who end up in that position are not necessarily worse off. Lamond's experience suggests the opposite: a fallen-through Den deal freed him up to build a funding round with backers whose profile arguably raised the company's public standing more than a completed deal with Suleyman alone might have.
Where Things Stand Now
Bug Bakes pitched in Series 17 for £50,000 and 50 percent, agreed a deal with Touker Suleyman on camera that ultimately never completed, and instead built its own investor round with backers including Davina McCall and Peter Gabriel.
The company is still selling insect-based dog food today, proof that a Dragons' Den deal falling through off-camera is not the same thing as a business failing, and in this case the founder ended up with a more interesting set of backers than the one Dragon who made an offer in the studio.
Where to buy Bug Bakes
Still selling as of 1 June 2026. Check today's price and availability.
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See the full Bug Bakes deal breakdown and term sheet →
