Igloo Dragons Den is a part of the British Television Series that is owned by Sony and hosted by Evan Davis. Originally based on a Japanese series, it has gained immense popularity among the entrepreneurs. It was first broad cast on the 4th of January 2005 on BBC 2.
The show is based on the entrepreneurs show casing their skills and products to a panel of five extremely wealthy investors- the so called Dragons of the show. The financial investment is against the stake of the company. Igloo Dragons Den came to the show in 2004. The first entrepreneurs to appear on the show were 31 years old Alistair Turner and Anthony Coates Smith- the co owners of Igloo and they were the first to become millionaires as well.
Igloo Dragons Den is about the company Igloo owned by the above mentioned duo, who came to the show and asked for £160,000 only in return of 8% of the equity in the business. However, there were severe repercussions from the Dragons especially from Peter Jones who thought it was outrageous to value their business as £2 million.
However when the duo was very firm on their stand, the Dragons gradually became softer and their resistance melted. Igloo Dragons Den proved to be extremely profitable for them and they got the entire additional fund that they need for the business. As a part of the program, the Igloo Dragons Den needs to specify the amount of money that is required from the Dragons before pitching.
Igloo Dragons Den was created by Alistair and Anthony with almost 12 years of management experience in various fields like FMCG, Food Service supply chain and even Retail. Igloo is a Thermo Logistic company comprising of a dynamic and flexible business team offering some of the most innovative solutions to challenging transport needs.
Igloo Dragons Den presented a fresh view on the service being provided and the best of a high specification fleet. Igloo Dragons Den promised to provide the best and the highest quality of transport across UK and Europe. The main areas that they focused on were service, professionalism, reliability and quality.
Igloo Dragons Den has its own set of rules and it needed the Igloo to raise the amount from one Dragon to the other. The rule was to offer equity of the business, which too was decided before the beginning of the pitch.
It was to be decided by the Dragons if the participants had the chance to negotiate further or just to walk away or even to accept any of the offers and deals made by the Dragons. Igloo Dragons Den also had the flexibility for the Dragons to sponsor part of the offer and not the full amount and the other Dragons were free to do the same.
Igloo Dragons Den was more a war of bidding and all the dragons wanted to take a piece of the cake. In the order of the wealth the Dragons are Duncan, Peter, Theo, James followed by Deborah. Igloo Dragons Den experienced one of the most tensed moment of the show with everybody spell bound when the young duo valued their business at a whopping £2million.
Duncan was the first Dragon to offer almost half of £160,000 for 20 % equity in the company. Igloo Dragons Den was soon joined in by Richard who was extremely quick to increase the equity to almost 30%. They were soon joined by Theo and Deborah who were fast to cut the money to only 25%.
The Dragons are very popular for ridiculing the entrepreneur contestants of highly valuing their own business, Igloo Dragons Den were no exception to this. They were ridiculed by Peter who even accused them of having no brains and thinking highly of their own venture.
But the duo was extremely cool and remained firm all through and it was not long before they started to realize that Igloo Dragons Den was melting under pressure. But ultimately Peter gave in and agreed to the £160,000 or half money for 12.5% of the business equity if he agreed to go into a deal with Deborah and Theo. Igloo Dragons Den then made the final offer which was 22.5%. This offer was made by Richard and Duncan.
This moment was a nerve racking moment in the Igloo Dragons Den and it was to the duo to decide whether to accept or not to accept the deal offered. However, they ultimately accepted the deal and also agreed on the lowest equity demand which was 22.5% from Duncan and Richard.
The duo clearly came out victorious and stayed calm all through. Both Alistair and Anthony are ambitious and their participation in the Igloo Dragons Den simply reflected that. They put their years of experience into practice and used the most innovative technology in temperature control and thus offered great solutions for the frozen and chilled food. They also had a great customer service to match.
Igloo Dragons Den, agrees the duo has been one of the most successful venture. They were a growing business but Igloo Dragons Den brought them fame and recognition along with greater capabilities of expansion. They now have all the money they need for further business expansion.
They are also extremely honest about their Igloo Dragons Den experience which they agree to be the most frightening experience of their lifetime. They also agree that the Igloo Dragons Den gave them fame and they got a lot of media attention with the show. Though they maintain that their business was extremely successful but the Igloo Dragons Den investments proved to be a boon for the company and gave it the entire boost up it needed.
Igloo Dragons Den was the highest valued company of the Dragons Den but the interesting part is that they still make their own business decisions and are not interfered by either Richard or by Duncan. With the Igloo Dragons Den they also experienced the best of the PR which was simply great for their business.