Product Update

Is i Cafe Still in Business? (2026 Update)

Is i Cafe from Dragons’ Den still around in 2026? The deal it made, the dragons who invested, and where to buy i Cafe today.

Dragons' Den IndexUpdated 24 April 20266 min read

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i Cafe pitched a coffee shop business and franchise concept in Series 10, and despite a rocky path through the Den, the brand is still pouring coffee in Glasgow today. If you are asking whether i Cafe is still in business, the answer is yes.

The Short Answer

i Cafe is still trading. Multiple Glasgow locations, including sites on Great Western Road, Sauchiehall Street and in the Merchant City, show up as active in recent listings and reviews, and the registered company remains on the books at Companies House.

That staying power is notable given how the original Den deal actually played out, which was far from the smooth handshake it looked like on screen.

Coffee shop chains are a genuinely tough category to keep alive for over a decade, given how much competition exists from both major chains and a constant stream of new independents, so a multi-site operation still running in the same city more than ten years after its television appearance is a meaningfully positive result.

The Pitch

Umer Ashraf brought i Cafe to Series 10, Episode 7, pitching his Glasgow-founded coffee shop business, first opened back in 2005, along with a plan to franchise the concept more widely.

He asked for £80,000 in exchange for 49 percent of the company, a large equity stake reflecting how much capital he needed to take the idea beyond a single site.

Giving up 49 percent of the business was a notably large ask for a founder to volunteer, effectively offering the Dragons close to half the company before any negotiation even started. That framing set up much of the tension in the episode, since it left very little room for Ashraf to give further ground once the Dragons started pushing back on the terms.

The Deal That Was Offered

Duncan Bannatyne agreed to invest, but not on the terms Ashraf originally proposed. Reports on the pitch describe Ashraf having to concede a larger share of the business than he had planned, with Bannatyne's involvement pushing the equity given up higher than the initial ask.

Peter Jones was reportedly sceptical of the whole pitch, calling the franchise plan into question even as Bannatyne moved to back it, which made for one of the more tense moments in the episode.

Why the Deal Never Closed

Despite Bannatyne's on-air commitment, the investment never actually completed. The specific reasons were not made public, which is common when Dragons' Den deals fall apart during the due diligence period after filming.

Ashraf kept the business running regardless. Coffee shops live and die on location, consistency and repeat custom far more than on a single television appearance, and i Cafe appears to have built exactly that kind of loyal, local following in Glasgow over the years since.

Building a Local Coffee Brand in Glasgow

i Cafe started as a single Glasgow site back in 2005, well before the Dragons' Den appearance, and Ashraf's plan on the show was always about scaling that existing, working formula into a wider franchise rather than proving a brand-new concept from scratch. That distinction matters: he was pitching growth capital for something already generating revenue, not seed funding for an untested idea.

Since the episode aired, the brand has kept multiple locations open across Glasgow, including sites on Great Western Road, Sauchiehall Street and in the Merchant City. Running several independent coffee shop locations in one city for well over a decade, without national chain backing, is a real achievement in a category where big-name competitors dominate much of the market.

Where Things Stand Now

i Cafe pitched in Series 10 asking for £80,000 for 49 percent, and Duncan Bannatyne offered to back it, though on tougher terms than originally proposed. The deal ultimately did not complete after the show.

The business carried on anyway. i Cafe remains open across several Glasgow locations today, which puts it among the steadier survivors from a series that saw plenty of deals collapse once the cameras stopped rolling.

There is no evidence the franchise expansion Ashraf originally pitched ever scaled nationally the way he described in the Den, and the brand today reads more like a well-established local Glasgow chain than the countrywide franchise on the pitch deck. That is a smaller outcome than the original ambition, but a genuinely solid one, and one that has clearly outlasted plenty of businesses that did walk away with the Dragons' cheque.

Where to buy i Cafe

Still selling as of 24 April 2026. Check today's price and availability.

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See the full i Cafe deal breakdown and term sheet →