Product Update

Is Igloo Still in Business? (2026 Update)

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

Dragons' Den IndexUpdated 10 July 20266 min read

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Igloo pitched a specialist chilled and frozen transport service in series 4 and walked away with backing from two dragons. It is a useful reminder that a Dragons' Den deal is a starting point, not a guarantee. The short answer here is no, Igloo is not still in business. The company was dissolved years ago.

The pitch and the deal

Founders Anthony Coates-Smith and Alistair Turner brought Igloo, a chilled and frozen transport operator, to series 4, episode 1. They asked for £160,000 in exchange for 22.5 percent of the business.

Duncan Bannatyne and Richard Farleigh made the joint offer at those exact terms, £160,000 for 22.5 percent, the lowest equity ask the dragons in that episode were willing to accept. Chilled logistics is a capital-heavy, low-margin business, refrigerated vehicles, fuel costs, tight delivery windows, so the low equity ask suggests the founders had done their homework on what the business was actually worth before walking in.

What happened after the cameras stopped

The investment closed, and Igloo operated for a number of years afterward as a specialist logistics provider. But the company did not make it to a happy long-term ending.

Public records and reporting indicate Igloo was dissolved by 2013. Its closure was not a quiet fade either, it came with reports that the company had illegally deducted wages from employees and was subsequently ordered to repay those deductions with penalties. That is a genuinely bad way for a company to end, and it is worth being straightforward about it rather than glossing over it.

The lesson in a low equity ask

It is worth revisiting why Coates-Smith and Turner were only willing to give up 22.5 percent for £160,000, a comparatively tight equity ask by Dragons' Den standards. Founders who ask for a small slice of equity relative to the cheque size are usually signalling confidence in their own valuation, which can reflect real strength in the business or can simply reflect founders holding firm on a number that turns out not to match reality once the money is spent.

In Igloo's case, the eventual dissolution suggests the underlying economics of specialist chilled transport, tight margins, high fuel and vehicle costs, unforgiving delivery windows, were tougher to sustain long-term than the pitch and the initial deal terms implied. A confident ask on the day does not guarantee a durable business years later.

A contradiction worth flagging

Our own directory data currently marks Igloo as still selling, which does not hold up against the public record. The company appears to have ceased trading and been formally dissolved around 2013, more than a decade ago, following disputes over employee pay. That flag is being raised for the site's editorial team to review and correct.

Logistics businesses live and die on cash flow and contracts, and a chilled transport operator has less room for error than most, spoiled stock, missed refrigeration windows, and fuel price swings can all bite hard. Whatever combination of factors caused Igloo's collapse, the dissolution and the wage dispute are both matters of public record.

What researchers should take from this case

Igloo is a useful reminder that Dragons' Den success on the day of filming tells you very little about a company's fate a decade later. A joint offer from two dragons, a closed deal at reasonable terms, and years of subsequent trading can still end in dissolution and legal trouble over how staff were treated.

For anyone building a picture of a company's current status, particularly one that pitched more than a decade ago, checking Companies House or equivalent public records directly is worth doing rather than relying on the fact that a deal was once struck on television.

The verdict

Igloo is not still in business. The company that pitched chilled and frozen transport services in series 4 and secured £160,000 from Duncan Bannatyne and Richard Farleigh was dissolved by 2013, and its ending involved an employment dispute over unpaid wages rather than a clean exit.

If you are researching Igloo for chilled logistics services today, you will not find the original company still operating. It is a case worth remembering when you hear that a Dragons' Den deal closed. The deal closing and the company surviving are two very different things.

Where to buy Igloo

Still selling as of 10 July 2026. Check today's price and availability.

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See the full Igloo deal breakdown and term sheet →