Latest news with #DabbaDrop
Daily Mirror
31-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
'I was rejected 5 times on Dragons' Den but now my profits have doubled'
A Dragons' Den entrepreneur has revealed she's grateful to have not secured investment on the BBC One competition. A Dragons' Den contestant has admitted she's grateful to have not secured investment on the BBC One competition. Anshu Ahuja entered the Den in an episode that aired tonight, hoping to seek £100,000 for 3 percent of her business, DabbaDrop. The founder and her business partner had built up their sustainable takeaway business, inspired by the dabbawala system of Mumbai, in 2018, and had valued the business at more than £3,000,000 just a few years later. The entrepreneur was looking for investment from the likes of Peter Jones, Sara Davies, Touker Suleyman, Deborah Meaden, and Steven Bartlett to help upscale DabbaDrop and encourage its growth outside of London. However, despite her inspirational ethics behind the sustainable product, and the fact that DabbaDrop had turned over more than £800,000 in its latest year, Anshu failed to convince the Dragons to invest. In fact, Peter encouraged her to 'pivot' on one key part of her business model, while Touker called the valuation 'crazy' and Sara feared DabbaDrop was in 'distress.' Yet despite their comments and not securing an investment from Dragons' Den, Anshu has had no regrets. In an exclusive interview, she reflected on Touker's harsh remark on their valuation, saying: 'We had done quite a lot of work going into Dragons' Den and our own fundraising round, so the £4million valuation was independently valued, based on our £850,000 revenue and a lifetime value of the 1,500 subscribers at that point of nearly £400 per subscriber. At that point, we also had a 1,000-person waiting list, which is currently, even before airing, standing at 4,000 people.' Anshu knew it was a 'risk' to go on national TV and pitch her business, but was willing to take the leap as the team was fundraising for DabbaDrop at the time of being approached for the show. They'd already received interest from more than 2,000 investors, had reached millions of views on an Instagram reel, and pledged more than £1,000,000. 'It is risky going on national TV, but why not? Let's take the ris,k and it might be worth it," she said. 'Also, the opportunity to talk to five smart, brilliant people was what I was most excited about, being up there talking about our story and our vision, all about the Dabba dream, and having them dissect it and come up with interesting ideas of how to take it further. 'I know it sounds mad, but I was thrilled about being chosen to have that conversation, regardless of what happened at the end.' With the help of the investors and support they've received, Anshu already has plans for DabbaDrop to expand with more products and to build new hubs in other cities, after demand for the service across the world in Mumbai, New York, and Sydney. 'It's not just us that believe in it, there are investors across the world who think this is a great idea and have the same sort of vision for it as we do,' she said. Since going on Dragons' Den, before the episode had aired, Anshu revealed that the company had already doubled its number of subscribers and profits. She reflected:' We've really taken the advice that the Dragons gave us to work at bettering our model. Actually, in a lot of ways, I'm glad we didn't get the investment, and look at how great we're doing, we've used that moment to go away and think about how we can be better. 'I'm really proud of how far we've come in just a year with no help.' 'I have absolutely no regrets,' she declared. 'It was worth every minute of that grilling, even Touker saying, 'You just take other people's money and go and spend it.' It was worth all that stress, chaos, and embarrassment. It was worth it, I'm still smiling.'
The Independent
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Dragons' Den is back – these are all the businesses pitching tonight
After a five-month hiatus, everyone's favourite business show, Dragons' Den, returns to our screens tonight for the second half of series 22, but there's a major change on the horizon. In early March, Sara Davies announced that she was leaving the show after six years to focus on her company, Crafter's Companion, which she bought out of administration earlier this year. Before she bows out at the end of this series, she will star alongside her fellow dragons Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman and Steven Bartlett. On this week's episode, they will size up pitches ranging from an Indian meal delivery service and neurodivergent T-shirts to affordable luxury skincare and a virtual gifting app. Earlier in the year, we saw season-your-own crisps, Italian frozen pizzas, a menopause device, a solid shampoo bar dispenser and much more. Will any of the businesses win over the dragons this evening? Here's everything you need to know about the startups and their products. First into the den tonight is Anshu Ahuja, founder of DabbaDrop, a zero-waste meal delivery service that swaps plastic Tupperware boxes for traditional metal tiffins that stack. But while the dragons delighted in her meals, will they see enough potential in the startup's scalability? A simple concept: subscribers receive four rotating pre-cooked vegetarian meals from around the world weekly in reusable dabbas (containers), which are then collected and swapped out with each delivery. Currently, only delivering to London zones 1-3, each delivery serves two. It costs £30 per week, including delivery. Next up in the den is one of the youngest entrepreneurs to ever face the dragons. Twelve-year-old Max Palfrey is joined in the lair by his dad, Matt. The father-and-son duo are hoping to impress with a product born from Max's own experience living with neurodivergence, but will the dragons be impressed with their venture? The Comfa fidget T is a sensory-friendly T-shirt designed with built-in pop-fidget toys built directly into the hem. The kids' fidget T-shirts cost £19.99 ( and come in a variety of colours. There are also adult fidget T-shirts, which cost £24.99 ( and come in black or white. Third in the den is serial entrepreneur Jonathan Penna, co-founder of Azio Beauty, a luxury skincare brand that promises premium products without the price tag. Touting a unique business model that cuts out the middleman, will Penna have the dragons racing to invest? Founded in 2022, Azio Beauty cuts out traditional markups in a similar way to Beauty Pie. It directly partners with skincare laboratories, selling its products directly to consumers, removing the need for retailers or wholesale. The range includes firming serums (£24, face and neck lift creams (£29, tinted SPF (£27, and night creams (£24, with ingredients like peptides and retinyl palmitate at a fraction of the cost of traditional luxury brands. Prsnt app: Last in the den are co-founders Omid Moallemi and David Parr. The two friends have created an innovative app that aims to make sending last-minute presents quicker and easier. Launched in 2019, Prsnt has virtual gifts from more than 100 high street and luxury brands, including Costa, Bloom & Wild, Fortnum & Mason and Nike. It lets users send real gifts, from cocktails and spa days to coffee and skincare. Ranging in price from £3 to £1,000, each gift can be personalised with video messages and can be digitally unwrapped. The recipient gets a QR code to redeem their gift online or in-store.
