This is the biggest disaster in Dragons’ Den history
Over the two decades that Dragons’ Den has been on screen, every stratospheric high has been met with a gutting low.
Our multimillionaire business tycoons – currently Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, and Steven Bartlett – have reaped the rewards and missed out on megabusinnes hits.
Just last year, a pet food start-up, Omni, secured a £75,000 investment from Deborah and Steven. Now, they have raked in a whopping £11million.
On the flip side, food company Pasta Evangelists, which appeared on the show in 2018 and was brutally shot down, is now worth £40m.
But, in the cutthroat world of business, perhaps nothing is worse than an investment that falls apart – despite everyone’s best efforts, and there have also been plenty of those in the history of the BBC series.
Over the years, our Dragons have signed away big bucks into folding paper equipment, maritime safety devices and even a band looking for their big break – all ending in the company’s folding, or never even taking off.
One such company, that could be considered the biggest investment disaster in the show’s history, was Gaming Alerts Limited.
Partners Emmie Matthews and Ed Stevens appeared on the fifth season of the show all the way back in 2007, where they pitched their affiliate marketing company specialising in promoting online bingo, casino, and poker platforms
As Emmie explained to the sharp-tongued Dragons on the show: ‘What our unique selling point is in our name, gaming alerts, users can download
‘From any of our five websites. Their desktop is completely free, and they can opt in to receive poker, casino, bingo or sports betting alerts.’
They originally wanted an eye-watering £200,000 investment for 10% of the business and, in the end, walked away with the £200k and a 30% stake from former Dragon Theo Paphitis (2005-2012), who was convinced thanks to his wife’s own internet bingo habits.
In an omen for what was to come, an Evening Standard article from the time declared: ‘Yes, they’re all extremely wealthy. Nevertheless, £200,000 is £200,000. That’s a lot of cash to lose. Big respect to Mr Paphitis.’
After the investment, Emmie, who hails from Upton Upon Severn, told Worcester News: ‘The experience was terrifying, we got to the studio at 7am and were put in a little room with the other contestants. We were the last to be seen, so by [4pm] I was desperate for them to see us.
‘Some of the dragons thought we had over-valued our business, but Theo saw the value of online and the gambling industry.’
Meanwhile, Theo added: ‘I think the whole concept of proactively alerting users to the best bonuses and offers is truly revolutionary and Ed and Emmie have really brought the idea to life.’
And Emmie optimistically shared to Heretford Times: ‘I’m doing something I enjoy doing and I love working in this industry. We’re not millionaires yet, but we’re working on it.’
In 2008, in an interview with Bingo News, Ed confirmed that they were pivoting away from the overpopulated UK market and set their sights elsewhere.
‘After finding out how saturated the market is in the UK, we’ve decided to focus our attention on other European markets. We’re excited about the new opportunities we have in the works with Theo and hope Spain proves to be a success,’ he said at the time.
In the end, however, just three years later, the company folded and was officially dissolved on September 20, 2011.
Around a similar time, the pair were also involved in the company Global Digital Markets, with Emmie resigning in 2012 and Ed following in 2014 – the company eventually dissolved in 2024.
In 2014, Emmie told Casino International she was ‘a board director at MC&C Media – Jack Media merged with MC&C Media.’
According to her LinkedIn, since 2015, she has been the founder and adviser of Faust House and describes herself as an ‘experience exited entrepeneur’.
Then, since 2022, she has been the founder of Female Founders Rise, a community of 11k female and non-binary founders with the goal of ‘financial freedom for women through entrepreneurship’.
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