Product Update
Is Power 8 Workshop Still in Business? (2026 Update)
Is Power 8 Workshop from Dragons’ Den still around in 2026? The deal it made, the dragons who invested, and where to buy Power 8 Workshop today.
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Power 8 Workshop pitched what it billed as the world's first cordless benchtop power tool system, a genuinely ambitious idea for a Series 8 pitch. It got Dragons interested, took an unusual turn straight after filming, and then had a long run in the real world before finally closing. If you are asking whether it is still going in 2026, the short answer is no.
The Short Answer
Power 8 Workshop is no longer trading. The company that grew out of the pitch was dissolved in 2025, roughly fifteen years after the original Dragons' Den appearance. It had a genuinely long life for a Den business, just not an infinite one.
That fifteen-year run is worth pausing on. Plenty of pitched businesses fold within a couple of years. This one did not, and the story of how it got that far is more interesting than the average Den outcome.
That fifteen-year figure also matters because it shows the decision to walk away from the Dragons was not obviously a mistake. Plenty of founders who take the money end up losing control of decisions they would rather have kept, and Elsworthy's route, while unusual, let him run the business on his own terms for well over a decade.
The Pitch
Founder Chris Elsworthy came into Series 8, Episode 8 asking for £150,000 in exchange for 30 percent of the business, pitching a cordless benchtop workshop system built around a single interchangeable power unit rather than a shelf full of separate cordless tools.
It is the kind of product Dragons who understand manufacturing and retail tend to respond to, a genuine engineering idea with an obvious retail shelf and an obvious price point, rather than a novelty.
The Deal That Got Offered, Then Turned Down
Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones offered the full £150,000 for the 30 percent stake on the table, matching the ask exactly. On screen, that reads as a clean, straightforward win.
Off screen, it did not close. Reporting at the time says Elsworthy declined the investment after filming, citing discomfort with how the show's format had represented the business, and chose to fund the company through the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter instead. That is an unusual move. Most founders who get an on-air yes fight to keep it.
Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones are both experienced retail investors, and matching the full ask on a manufacturing-heavy product like this is a reasonable vote of confidence in the underlying engineering, even though the money never actually changed hands.
Why the Kickstarter Route Worked, For A While
Turning down two Dragons and going to the crowd instead is a real gamble, and in this case it paid off for a long stretch. The business kept trading and kept developing the product line for around a decade and a half after the episode aired, which puts it well ahead of most companies that do walk away from the Den with a cheque.
Long runs like that usually mean a founder who found a real customer base and kept iterating the product, benchtop power tools are a competitive, unglamorous category where you survive on repeat trade credibility, not one viral moment.
Crowdfunding also gave Elsworthy something a Dragon deal would not have, direct feedback from thousands of backers before a single unit shipped, which for a genuinely new product category, a shared power unit across a whole benchtop tool range, may have been more valuable in the early years than boardroom oversight from two experienced investors.
Where Things Stand Now
Here is the recap. Power 8 Workshop pitched a cordless benchtop tool system in Series 8, was offered the full £150,000 for 30 percent by Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones, turned it down after filming, and instead built the business through Kickstarter funding.
That version of the company kept going for roughly fifteen years before being dissolved in 2025. So if you are wondering whether you can still buy the Power 8 Workshop system today, you cannot, the company that made it has closed, but it is worth remembering it outlasted a lot of businesses that did take the Dragons' money.
Common Questions
Did Power 8 Workshop take the Dragons' money? No. Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones offered the full £150,000 for 30 percent on air, but founder Chris Elsworthy turned it down after filming and funded the business through Kickstarter instead.
How long did the company survive? Roughly fifteen years from the original Series 8 pitch, a genuinely long run for a business built without the on-air investment.
Is Power 8 Workshop still trading in 2026? No. The company was dissolved in 2025.
Where to buy Power 8 Workshop
Still selling as of 16 April 2026. Check today's price and availability.
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See the full Power 8 Workshop deal breakdown and term sheet →
