Dragons’ Den Investor Nick Jenkins: Founder of Moonpig

nick jenkins

Dragons’ Den investor Nick Jenkins is an entrepreneur, Television personality and capitalist. The millionaire is famous for founding Moonpig, an online business offering greeting cards. He is an active angel investor who mainly supports small businesses and startups related to e-commerce. Moreover, Nick gained popularity after appearing in the thirteenth and fourteenth series of Dragons’ Den. He also owns the Grade I listed building, Stockton House at Wiltshire. Apart from business interests, Nick also performs philanthropic activities.

Dragons’ Den Investor Nick Jenkins Net Worth

The net worth of Dragons’ Den investor Nick Jenkins is estimated to be £150m. Since 2008, he has been an active angel investor with an interest in e-commerce start-ups. The entrepreneur has also financed Green Energy Options, Smart Turnout, The Healthy Holiday Company, Sheerluxe.com and Boomf.com. 

Nick appeared in two seasons of the BBC Two’s reality show Dragons’ Den. During the thirteenth and fourteenth seasons of the show, Jenkins invested £842K in eight different businesses of different sectors. His investments include Slappie watches, Masons Beans, Sublime Science, and Double. Nick also invested in Snaffling Pig Pork, which eventually earned profits worth £5.2M.

After leaving the Dragons’ Den panel, Nick started supporting the education and technology sectors.

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Dragons’ Den Investor Nick Jenkins Early Life and Education

Nick was born in Droitwich Spa, England. He went to Haberdashers’ Adams Grammar School in Newport. Subsequently, he studied Russian Literature at Birmingham University. After completing his education in Russian Literature, Nick started working as a commodity trader in Moscow.

Jenkins continued to work as a sugar retailer for eight years. However, things began to become sour for the entrepreneur because of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Nick soon started losing customers because of bombs and shootings. After receiving a death threat, Nick decided to return to the UK.

In 1998, Jenkins returned to Britain and studied Master of Business Administration at Cranfield University. On 3 June 2000, Nick established Moonpig, an online business offering greeting cards and gifts. Interestingly, the entrepreneur named the company Moonpig because his classmates often used to call him ‘Moonpig’ at school.

By 2003, the business had 4 million customers, making it a big success. Soon the company became a one-stop solution for online greeting cards, attracting 90% of clients who bought digital greeting cards in England.

By 2007, Moonpig doubled its profits to around £21m by delivering 6 million greeting cards in the UK. Moreover, in 2009, the net worth of the company was estimated to be £1.5 Billion. Within 10 years, Moonpig became one of the biggest online greeting card sellers in the world. In 2011, Jenkins sold the business to Photobox for £120m to invest in small companies and startups.

Since 2008, Nick is investing in small businesses and start-up companies. The entrepreneur was also a board member and investor at the Impact Ventures UK investment committee. The investment fund aims to finance social enterprises that provide better solutions to social issues in Britain.  Nick also donated funds to the Conservative Party during the 2015 UK general election campaign.

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Nick Jenkins Success Mantra and Philanthropic Activities

The entrepreneur also invests in educational charities such as ARK. He also believes in helping needy people and thus feeds the poor by funding charities like Shivia. Moreover, he was a part of some children’s charity for a long time. 

Nick believes that a company should have a good working culture. In his total business experience, the entrepreneur has hired good and passionate people who are curious to learn and work. Additionally, he believes that employers must respect and value the employees and keep them in the company for at least 4-5 years. 

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The entrepreneur has a great understanding of numbers and accounts. He also evaluated and analysed the company’s monthly profits and managed accounts. Nick also examines the key performance indicators and understands the levers he can pull to grow the business.  Additionally, he advises aspiring entrepreneurs to understand their website’s analytics. The tycoon thinks that the customers and their needs must be the priority of every business.

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Nick Jenkin’s life is full of ups and downs. He understands that success does not happen overnight. The entrepreneur started from a small business, faced failures, worked hard and took intelligent decisions to create a multi-million-pound empire.