Product Update

Is The Running Mat Still in Business? (2026 Update)

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

Dragons' Den IndexUpdated 27 February 20266 min read

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The Running Mat pitched a genuinely clever idea, a wearable exercise mat that unfolds when you need it and straps back on when you do not. Donna Kerr-Foley walked out with 50,000 pounds from two dragons, but the company did not make it past its early years.

The Short Answer

No, The Running Mat is no longer in business. Companies House filing history shows the company was dissolved by 2017, roughly four years after the Dragons' Den deal closed.

Our records for this pitch currently show the business as still selling, but the dissolution record contradicts that. This page is being flagged so the status can be corrected, and the product should not be assumed to be currently available from any official source.

The Dragons' Den Pitch

Kerr-Foley appeared in series 11, episode 2, pitching The Running Mat in the Sports & Outdoors category. The product was a cushioned, waterproof, foldaway exercise mat with a reflective coating, worn around the waist or hips while running and unfolded when it was time to stretch, exercise or sit down without getting wet or dirty.

She asked for 50,000 pounds in exchange for 40 percent of the company, alongside a boot-camp business built around the product. That is a substantial equity stake to give up, and it points to a founder who needed serious backing to get manufacturing and distribution moving.

The Deal That Got Done

Deborah Meaden and Kelly Hoppen teamed up to back the pitch, investing the full 50,000 pounds asked for in exchange for the 40 percent equity on the table. Two dragons splitting a deal at that equity level suggests genuine enthusiasm for the product itself, even with some scepticism in the room, Duncan Bannatyne was notably unconvinced there was a real market for it.

The pairing of Meaden's retail instincts and Hoppen's design sensibility looked like a sound match for a product that lived at the intersection of fitness gear and practical design.

What Happened After the Deal

The Running Mat did get to market, picking up reviews from fitness and outdoor bloggers who tested it on real runs and generally found the concept sound in practice. But a clever product concept is not the same as a durable business, and building a sustainable company around a single accessory item, sold largely direct to consumers, proved to be a harder climb than the pitch made it look.

Company filing records confirm the business was formally dissolved by 2017, closing the book on the venture within about four years of the investment closing.

A Common Pattern for Single-Product Fitness Brands

Fitness accessory brands built around one accessory item face a particularly tough retail environment. They are competing for attention against enormous, well-funded sportswear companies with far bigger marketing budgets, and a single product, however clever, gives a small business little room to build repeat custom once the initial curiosity purchase has been made.

The dissolution of The Running Mat is not an unusual outcome for that category. What is worth noting is that the product itself was generally well reviewed by people who actually tried it, the business challenge here appears to have been distribution and scale rather than a flawed product.

A Case Where the Sceptical Dragon Had a Point

Duncan Bannatyne's on-air scepticism about whether there was really a market for a wearable exercise mat looks, with hindsight, like a reasonable read of the business rather than simple stubbornness. Meaden and Hoppen backed the idea on the strength of the product design, but design quality alone rarely carries a niche fitness accessory to sustainable scale without a much bigger marketing engine behind it.

It is a pattern worth remembering for anyone reading through Dragons' Den history looking for lessons. A dragon passing on a deal is not always a missed opportunity, sometimes it is an accurate early read of a business that ultimately did not have the legs to survive.

Where Things Stand Now

Here is the recap. The Running Mat pitched in series 11 with a wearable, foldaway exercise mat, asked for 50,000 pounds for 40 percent, and got it from Deborah Meaden and Kelly Hoppen.

Today the company is dissolved and has not traded for years. If you came here hoping to buy one, you will not find it through the original business, the mat itself is now a piece of Dragons' Den history rather than a product you can still order.

Where to buy The Running Mat

Still selling as of 27 February 2026. Check today's price and availability.

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See the full The Running Mat deal breakdown and term sheet →