Product Update

Is Mood Bears Still in Business? (2026 Update)

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

Dragons' Den IndexUpdated 28 March 20266 min read

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It is rare for every single Dragon on the panel to back the same pitch, which is exactly what makes Mood Bears stand out even before you look at what happened next. Jo Proud walked into series 20 with a set of teddy bears designed to help children identify and talk about their emotions, and came out with a unanimous deal. Years on, the business has gone from a Den first to national supermarket shelves. The short answer is yes, Mood Bears is still in business, and it is growing fast.

The short answer

Mood Bears is still trading and has expanded well beyond its original Dragons' Den pitch. The brand is now stocked in Amazon, Argos, Asda and, as of 2025, Sainsbury's stores nationwide, backed by a global manufacturing and distribution partnership with the toy company TOMY signed in 2023.

The pitch

Mood Bears appeared in series 20, episode 14, in the Kids & Education category. The founder asked for 20,000 pounds in exchange for 25 percent of the company, built around a simple, emotionally resonant idea, eight bears, each representing a different mood such as happy, sad, nervous or calm, designed to give children a physical way to express how they are feeling.

Products aimed at children's emotional wellbeing tend to do well with Dragons who have children or grandchildren of their own, and a genuinely useful, well designed toy with a clear educational hook has an easier path to a deal than most consumer pitches.

The deal

All five Dragons on the panel backed Mood Bears, splitting the 20,000 pound investment between them for the 25 percent equity on the table, a rare unanimous deal that reflects just how well the pitch landed across a panel that does not usually agree on much.

A deal with five investors on the cap table brings its own complications down the line, but it also means the founder had access to five very different networks, retail, manufacturing, media, consumer marketing and finance, all at once.

From the Den to the supermarket shelf

The clearest sign of how far Mood Bears has come is its retail footprint. Within a few years of its Den appearance, the brand secured a global manufacturing, sales and distribution partnership with TOMY, one of the larger names in the toy industry, and moved from a direct to consumer product into major UK retailers.

Being stocked by Amazon, Argos and Asda is a meaningful jump for a toy brand, and the addition of Sainsbury's shelves nationwide in 2025 extends that reach into grocery retail, a channel that is genuinely difficult for a small toy company to break into without a serious distribution partner behind it. The range has also grown to include talking bears, adding a new feature to the original line.

Why the emotional wellbeing angle keeps the product relevant

Children's mental health and emotional literacy have become genuine priorities for parents and schools alike over the past several years, and Mood Bears sits squarely in that conversation rather than competing purely on cuddliness or character licensing the way most soft toys do. That gives the brand a reason for teachers, therapists and parents to actively recommend it, not just a reason for a child to want one.

It also explains why a manufacturing partner the size of TOMY was willing to back it. A toy with a clear, communicable purpose is easier to sell into education focused retail channels and easier to justify as a repeat gift purchase than a purely decorative teddy bear, which is exactly the kind of positioning that tends to survive well past a single television moment.

Where you can buy it

Mood Bears is sold through Amazon, Argos, Asda and Sainsbury's, alongside its own website, giving it a retail presence well beyond most Dragons' Den alumni. That breadth of distribution, spanning a toy specialist, a supermarket and a general marketplace, reflects the TOMY partnership doing exactly what it was designed to do.

Where things stand now

Mood Bears pitched in series 20 for 20,000 pounds at 25 percent, secured a unanimous deal from all five Dragons on those exact terms, and has since built a genuine national retail presence through a TOMY partnership and listings in Amazon, Argos, Asda and Sainsbury's. Few Dragons' Den toy pitches make it onto supermarket shelves at all, let alone within a couple of years.

If you came here to check whether the emotion teddy bears made it, they did, and there is a decent chance you have already walked past them in a shop.

Where to buy Mood Bears

Still selling as of 28 March 2026. Check today's price and availability.

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See the full Mood Bears deal breakdown and term sheet →