Product Update

Is Umbrands Still in Business? (2026 Update)

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

Dragons' Den IndexUpdated 2 May 20266 min read

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Umbrands pitched a nanotech suction phone holder in series 12 and secured an investment from Duncan Bannatyne on air. What happened next is one of the stranger footnotes in the show's history, and the current trading status of the company is genuinely hard to pin down.

The Short Answer

This one has to be answered honestly as unclear. There is no reliable, current evidence that Umbrands is actively trading today. The company's old web presence does not resolve to a working shop, and there is no recent retail or press activity to point to. That is different from confirming the business has formally closed, so the fair statement is that the trail has gone cold rather than that the company is definitely dead.

The Pitch

Founder Tracy Baker pitched Umbrands' nanotech suction technology in series 12, episode 4, a range of phone and tablet mounts that stuck to flat surfaces without glue or magnets using a gecko-inspired adhesive pad. She asked for sixty thousand pounds for 25 percent of the business.

The pitch impressed enough to spark a bidding moment between Dragons, and Baker ended up walking away with more than she asked for.

The Deal and the Fallout

Duncan Bannatyne offered sixty five thousand pounds for 35 percent equity, a bigger cheque than the ask in exchange for more of the company, and Baker accepted on air.

The investment was later withdrawn. Reporting at the time linked the withdrawal to the discovery that Baker's partner had been connected to a serious criminal case unrelated to the business itself. It is a genuinely unusual reason for a Dragons' Den deal to collapse, most fall apart over accounts or valuation, not personal circumstances, and it is worth naming plainly here rather than glossing over it, while making clear this reflects the partner's situation, not any wrongdoing by the business or its product.

This kind of collapse tends to be far more damaging to a small company than a standard funding gap. It is not just the withdrawn cheque, it is the reputational overhang that follows a business into every subsequent retail meeting or investor pitch, whether or not the founder herself had any involvement in the underlying matter.

Why This One Is Hard to Verify

Unlike most of the companies in this index, Umbrands does not have a clean current answer. There is no dead simple website confirming closure, and no clear Companies House record surfaced in research that settles the question either way. Some product reviews of nanotech suction mounts under similar branding still circulate online, but nothing ties them conclusively to this specific company still trading in 2026.

That ambiguity is the honest finding, and it is better to say so plainly than to guess a tidy answer that the evidence does not support. Small consumer electronics accessory brands are also notoriously difficult to track once they stop actively marketing, since their products often continue to be resold through third party marketplaces long after the original company itself has gone quiet, which can create a false impression of ongoing activity even when the business behind the brand has effectively stopped operating.

For a directory like this one, the honest move in a case like Umbrands is to say clearly what can and cannot be confirmed, rather than defaulting to whichever answer sounds tidier. Readers checking on a company years after its Den appearance deserve that distinction, especially when the underlying deal itself collapsed under such unusual circumstances.

What a Nanotech Grip Product Was Up Against

Even setting the withdrawn investment aside, the underlying product category was always going to be a tough one to hold onto long term. Suction and gel-pad phone mounts are now widely available, cheaply, from countless generic sellers on Amazon and eBay, and a specialist branded version built around one founder's story has a hard time competing on price against unbranded imports once the novelty of the Den appearance fades.

That commercial pressure, on top of losing its investor before the money ever landed, would have made the years after the show considerably harder than they looked from the pitch itself.

Where Things Stand Now

Umbrands landed a deal on air for more than it asked for, then lost that investment when unrelated circumstances came to light. What happened to the business afterwards is not something the public record settles clearly.

If you are trying to buy Umbrands products today, treat this as an open question rather than a confirmed yes. There is no live storefront to point you to, and no recent evidence one way or the other beyond that.

Where to buy Umbrands

Still selling as of 2 May 2026. Check today's price and availability.

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See the full Umbrands deal breakdown and term sheet →