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BrewDog CEO reveals Dragon’s Den investors missed out on £360m after producers rejected their screen test
James Watt, the CEO and co-founder of craft beer giant BrewDog, has revealed that the Dragon’s Den investors missed out on “by far the best deal” in the show’s history after producers rejected their screen test.
While the Dragon’s Den investors might pride themselves on their hard-nosed business nouse and eye for a great opportunity, it seems as though they may have actually missed out on the deal of a lifetime.
James Watt, BrewDog’s co-founder and CEO, revealed in a recent post on LinkedIn that he and co-founder Martin Dickie applied to appear on Dragon’s Den to pitch their business back in 2008.
They got as far as a screen test, Watt said, before producers rejected them. “They deemed Martin & myself not investment worthy.” He wrote.
“We were prepared to offer the Dragons 20% for £100,000. Based on our latest BrewDog valuation, that investment would now be worth almost £360m meaning the Dragon’s missed out on by far the best deal in Den history.” Watt’s post continues.
“We got over the rejection eventually. But it took a while.”
BrewDog was founded in 2007 by James Watt and Martin Dickie.
Earlier this year, we reported that BrewDog had been in talks with the government over the use of their pubs as Covid vaccination centres. You can read more on that story here.