Product Update

Is Intern Avenue Still in Business? (2026 Update)

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

Dragons' Den IndexUpdated 16 January 20266 min read

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Intern Avenue pitched an online internship directory built to connect students and graduates with employers, and it landed one of the more talked-about deals of its series. It is also, unfortunately, one of the clearer failure stories in the show's history. The short answer is no, it did not survive.

The short answer

Intern Avenue is not still in business. The company was formally dissolved according to UK company records, and its website stopped functioning some years ago. If you are trying to find the internship directory today, there is nothing left to find.

That does not erase what the founder achieved getting there in the first place. Landing a Dragons' Den deal and building a working platform is genuinely hard, and plenty of businesses with far less initial momentum than this one also fail. This is simply not one of the survival stories.

The pitch in the Den

Intern Avenue appeared in Series 10, Episode 5, in the kids and education category, pitching an online directory designed to match students and recent graduates with internship opportunities at a time when structured internship pathways were becoming a much bigger part of how young people broke into competitive industries.

The founder, Dupsy Abiola, asked for 100,000 pounds in exchange for 40 percent of the company, a sizeable equity stake for a marketplace-style platform still early in proving out its business model.

The deal that got done

Peter Jones backed the business, putting up the full 100,000 pounds asked for the full 40 percent on the table.

Coverage from around the pitch also references interest from the late Hilary Devey, though the deal that ultimately closed was with Jones. His track record backing platform and marketplace businesses made him a sensible fit for a directory model that depended on building up both sides of the market, employers and candidates, at the same time.

What happened after the show

Intern Avenue operated for a number of years after the Dragons' Den appearance, continuing to promote internship opportunities and build out its brand presence. But the business ultimately did not survive. Company records show it was dissolved in 2019, and by 2023 its website was confirmed defunct, no longer functioning as a working directory.

The exact commercial reasons behind the closure are not detailed in public reporting, but a directory or marketplace business depends heavily on continually refreshing both employer listings and candidate demand, and that kind of platform can lose momentum quietly over several years before formally closing.

Where things stand now

Here is the recap. Intern Avenue pitched in Series 10, asked for 100,000 pounds for 40 percent, and got exactly that from Peter Jones.

The company was dissolved in 2019 and its website stopped working by 2023. If you came here wondering whether Intern Avenue made it, it did not. It is a straightforward closure rather than a rebrand or a quiet continuation under another name, and the historical record on that is clear.

Why marketplace businesses like this are fragile

A two-sided directory only works while both sides keep showing up. Employers need a steady flow of decent candidates to justify posting there instead of using their own channels, and candidates need enough live opportunities to make checking the site worth their time. If either side thins out, the other tends to follow, and the platform can enter a slow decline that is hard to reverse without fresh investment.

That dynamic makes internship and job-matching platforms a genuinely tough category to sustain over the long run, even with a well-known founder and a Dragons' Den deal behind them. Intern Avenue is not an isolated case among directory-style pitches on the show; it is one of several that struggled to keep both sides of the marketplace active for the long haul.

None of that erases what the pitch achieved in the moment. Dupsy Abiola built a recognisable brand around graduate internships at a time when the topic was gaining real attention in the UK press, and a Dragons' Den deal from Peter Jones is not an easy thing to land. The eventual closure reflects the difficulty of the marketplace model more than it reflects a weak original idea.

Where to buy Intern Avenue

Still selling as of 16 January 2026. Check today's price and availability.

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See the full Intern Avenue deal breakdown and term sheet →