Product Update
Is Eco Union Still in Business? (2026 Update)
Is Eco Union from Dragons’ Den still around in 2026? The deal it made, the dragons who invested, and where to buy Eco Union today.
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Joel and Nikki Buckley pitched Eco Union in series 19 with a simple pain point: paint rollers and trays that get used once and thrown away. Their fix, made from 100 per cent recycled waste material, landed a deal with Deborah Meaden, and the business went on to have one of the better outcomes in this whole run of Den pitches. If you are wondering whether Eco Union is still in business, it is, and it recently got a lot bigger.
The short answer
Eco Union is still trading, and its eco paint tools have since been acquired by Lick, the paint and decorating brand, to launch a new professional tools range. That is not a company quietly winding down. That is a company getting bought because the product worked.
For a Den pitch, an acquisition by a bigger, well-known brand in the same category is about as good an ending as it gets.
The pitch
Joel and Nikki Buckley brought their sustainable DIY painting tools to the Dragons in series 19, episode 2. The pitch centred on paint rollers and trays made entirely from recycled waste material, built to be reused rather than binned after a single job, and designed so trays did not need washing out between colours.
They asked for £85,000 in exchange for 20 per cent of the business. The product had already picked up award recognition before the couple ever stepped into the Den, which gave the pitch some third-party credibility beyond just their own sales pitch.
The deal
Deborah Meaden made the investment, backing the full £85,000 for the 20 per cent on offer, matching what the Buckleys asked for exactly. Deborah has built her Den reputation on sustainable, well-run consumer businesses, and a decorating product that solves a genuine environmental problem in an everyday household task is precisely the kind of pitch she tends to back.
Multiple Dragons were reportedly interested before Deborah closed it out, which is usually a good early signal for how a product will perform once it is actually on shelves.
The acquisition
Eco Union has since been acquired by Lick, the direct-to-consumer paint company, which used the deal to launch Lick Pro Tools, a professional-grade painting tools range built on Eco Union's sustainable materials approach. Eco Union also holds B Corp certification, which tends to matter to acquirers who want the sustainability credentials to be real rather than marketing.
An acquisition by a recognisable brand in the same space is a strong outcome for a company that started as two award-winning eco paint rollers and a Dragons' Den pitch. It means the product did not just survive, it scaled to the point where a bigger player wanted it inside their own range.
Where things stand now
The tools Joel and Nikki pitched are now part of Lick's professional tools offering, carrying the same recycled-material, reusable design that got Deborah Meaden's attention in the first place. The Eco Union name and B Corp credentials sit behind the products even under new ownership.
For anyone who watched the episode and wondered whether a paint roller pitch could really go anywhere, the answer turned out to be yes, all the way to an acquisition by one of the bigger names in UK paint.
The verdict
Eco Union asked for £85,000 for 20 per cent in series 19 and got exactly that from Deborah Meaden. The company is still active, now operating under Lick's ownership as Lick Pro Tools, which counts as one of the cleaner success stories in this batch of pitches.
Common questions
Who bought Eco Union? Lick, the direct-to-consumer paint company, acquired the business and used it to launch Lick Pro Tools, a professional-grade decorating tools range.
What made Eco Union's product different? The paint rollers and trays were made from 100 per cent recycled waste material and built to be reused rather than thrown away after one job, cutting down on the waste a typical decorating job generates.
Did Deborah Meaden's investment pay off? By the evidence available, yes. The business went from a Den pitch to a full acquisition by an established paint brand, backed by genuine B Corp sustainability credentials.
Can you still buy the original Eco Union products? The tools live on under Lick Pro Tools, built on the same recycled-material approach Joel and Nikki Buckley pitched in the Den.
Where to buy Eco Union
Still selling as of 8 June 2026. Check today's price and availability.
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See the full Eco Union deal breakdown and term sheet →
