Product Update
Is Extend Robotics Still in Business? (2026 Update)
Is Extend Robotics from Dragons’ Den still around in 2026? The deal it made, the dragons who invested, and where to buy Extend Robotics today.
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Extend Robotics pitched a VR-controlled robotics system for remote hospitality and human-controlled tasks in series 19, and it landed backing from Peter Jones, who compared the technology to something out of Iron Man. Short answer: yes, still in business, still operating out of Reading, though it remains a small, early-stage company rather than a scaled commercial success.
The pitch and the deal
Founder Chang Liu pitched Extend Robotics, a system letting a human operator remotely control a robot via VR headset for tasks like hospitality service, in series 19, episode 1, the same episode that featured Cheesegeek. He asked for £150,000 in exchange for 25 percent of the business.
Peter Jones made the offer at those terms, £150,000 for 25 percent. It was a bet on deep technology rather than a consumer product, robotics and VR control systems are expensive and slow to commercialise compared with most Dragons' Den pitches, which makes it a somewhat unusual style of deal for the show.
A small, steady technology business
Extend Robotics is based in Reading, and separate from its Dragons' Den deal, it had already secured earlier seed funding, including roughly £345,000 from Henley Business Angels members. Company data trackers list the business as still active, with around 16 employees as of early 2026, a small but functioning technology team.
This is not the kind of company that generates a steady stream of headlines. Robotics and VR-interface startups tend to grow through slow-burn enterprise contracts and further funding rounds rather than viral consumer traction, and the available public information reflects that: modest, incremental progress rather than a dramatic scale-up.
Why deep tech moves slowly
Robotics companies rarely follow the same growth curve as consumer product businesses, and it is worth understanding why before judging Extend Robotics against flashier Dragons' Den success stories. Hardware and VR interface development require lengthy testing cycles, safety certification, and enterprise sales processes that can take years to close a single significant contract, none of which shows up as dramatic month-to-month growth the way a consumer product launch might.
A small, sixteen-person team that is still operating several years after a Dragons' Den appearance, still publishing updates, and still listed as active on standard company databases, is arguably a reasonable outcome for a company in this category, even without the kind of headline growth that gets written about elsewhere.
Where things stand now
The company continues to operate and publish updates through its own website, and remains listed as active across standard business and startup data platforms as of 2026. There is no indication in available records of the business folding, being acquired, or ceasing operations since its Dragons' Den appearance.
That said, the picture is genuinely thinner than for most other companies in this directory, more early-stage technology business quietly continuing than headline growth story. Anyone doing due diligence on Extend Robotics today, for a business relationship or otherwise, should treat this as a starting point rather than the full picture, and check current filings directly.
Comparing hardware pitches to consumer pitches
It is worth contrasting Extend Robotics against the consumer product pitches that dominate most Dragons' Den seasons. A beard oil brand or a cable tie can generate revenue within weeks of a retail listing going live. A VR-controlled robotics platform needs enterprise buyers, pilot programmes, and often further capital raises before revenue reaches meaningful scale, a fundamentally slower and less visible process from the outside.
That does not make the underlying business worse, but it does mean patience is the right lens for judging it. A small, still-operating robotics company several years after its pitch, without any signal of collapse, is a reasonable position to be in for this category of business.
The verdict
Extend Robotics appears to still be in business, operating out of Reading with a small team, roughly four years on from its series 19 pitch and Peter Jones's £150,000 investment. It has not scaled into a household name, and detailed recent financial or operational updates are limited, but nothing in the public record suggests the company has closed.
It sits in the quieter, still-going category rather than either the breakout success or the collapse story, which is where a fair number of early-stage technology pitches from the Den end up.
Where to buy Extend Robotics
Still selling as of 10 July 2026. Check today's price and availability.
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See the full Extend Robotics deal breakdown and term sheet →
