It's episode 5 of season 22, and the Dragons are pitched dog food, life-saving kits for bees and a personal hygiene solution that gets to the bottom of it! These eco-focused entrepreneurs are all seeking investment, but will their numbers fall short of their confidence? Let’s find out.
Bidet for the UK
It’s a clean start from couple Kelsang and Bikke with their toilet bidet company, Chakow. Their pitch to “keep Britain’s bottoms clean” is a bold one. They’re asking for £100K in return of 13% of their company.
As well as sparkly undercarriages, the couple hopes to save water and stop the use of wet wipes.
Touker Suleyman makes a sound observation: once the market has been established, overseas manufacturers may undercut to compete for sales. Kelsang responds that the market for the product is yet to be properly established. Could Chakow be the pioneers? They claim this would be through marketing and education.
Steven Bartlett points out that the absence of a patent or IP protection is holding Chakow back. While he's right that a patent can help protect them from duplicates and allow them to license the product, patents can be challenging to obtain. Not only must your invention meet a strict criteria, patents can take some time to reach grant and can be rather costly. For this reason, the IPO always recommends seeking advice from an IP professional beforehand.
However, I can see from our search for a trade mark tool that Chakow has a registered trade mark. From this, they can try to establish a well-recognised brand, which may prove to be a far better solution for their product.
Overall, the Dragons feel that the UK is clean enough. The couple leave empty handed – albeit clean as a whistle.
A dog’s dinner from om-nom-nom, Omni
Guy and Shiv enter the Den with their dog friend, Ben, to pitch Omni dog food. The Omni team has created a vegan, allergy friendly dog food using alternative proteins. They claim that it benefits the environment and pet nutrition.
It’s possible that Omni may choose to protect their unique pet food with a trade secret. Trade secrets are a popular way to protect recipes and are used by many well-known companies such as KFC and Coca-Cola. The great thing about trade secrets is that you don’t need to apply for them and they can last forever, providing no-one leaks the secret (this is where non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, come into play). However, there is no protection if someone independently makes the same discovery themselves.
As a pet owner, dog food is a topic I’m particularly interested in. I provide my dog with a bug protein-based food, which Boo the Pug loves! Can Omni boldly take our pets to the future of dog nutrition?
The two seek £75K for 1% of their business. Guy, a veterinary doctor, introduces Ben, a black Labrador – and he looks hungry. Ben the Lab eagerly chows down while Deborah Meaden remarks “is that dog inhaling or eating that food?”. The bowl is licked clean and it’s on to business.
Deborah offers the full £75K for 3% of the business which is quickly matched by Steven Bartlett. The Omni duo then counter offer with a joint investment from both, but for a lower 2.5%. A great result, Omni have secured a strong deal and the Dragons believe in their business.
The value of a bee’s life.
Couple, Jake and Faye, start with a story of saving a bee from the pavement using sugar water. It’s something I’m familiar with as my partner is an avid bee saver. This incident inspired their company, Beevive. They’re looking for £80K in return for 8% of the business.
The product is a small vial of Bee food syrup and accessories. They’ve also brought Bee homes, named Bee hotels, to show the Den. It’s bee puns galore in this pitch and the Dragons are buzzing.
Organic marketing from their customers through social media has been a cost-saving exercise. Deborah Meaden is already a bee enthusiast, as an owner of several variants herself.
In general, the Dragons support the couple and their motives. They don't want to interfere with such a personal business, however. It’s a noble stance but what does Queen Bee Deborah think?
As the key Dragon in this pitch, the couple go for the honey pot. Deborah offers, without investment, her expertise as business support. The couple leave empty handed but bee-ming from the praise and Dragons’ support.
What’s an espresso? It’s a Little coffee.
Little’s Coffee is a family-run business that Will Little has taken on. He’s looking for £80K in return for 2% of the business, which uses plastic-free jars and aluminium coffee pods in order to be kinder to the planet.
I immediately recognised the bold colourful packaging of this brand from the supermarkets. A quick search of our trade mark database tells me Little’s coffee has shrewdly protected this eye-catching brand.
In addition to trade marks, you can also protect the visual appearance of your product, or packaging, with a registered design. Design registration lasts for 5 years before you need to renew it (up to a maximum of 25 years) and starts from as little as £50.00.
Seeing the potential, Deborah Meaden makes an offer for all the money but for 4% of the business. Steven Bartlett then counter offers the same money but for a much larger 7.5%, claiming his experience with a similar brand would be of use. Peter Jones encourages a joint investment between himself and Deborah but Steven isn’t impressed - it’s getting fiery in the Den.
Will takes a little time to think. After a moment, Will asks Steven if he would reduce his stake in the business to 5% and he enthusiastically takes him up on the offer.
It’s been a successful episode for Omni, Little’s Coffee and Beevive. Meanwhile, the Chakow team leaves with advice to return to the drawing board in search of IP innovation.
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Disclaimer:
The purpose of the IPO's Dragons' Den IP blog is to help identify the IP in entrepreneurs’ pitches and highlight how IP works, or could work, in the real-life examples featured. IPO’s authorship of this blog does not constitute its endorsement or sponsorship of any products, individuals or businesses referenced within it.
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