The pitch
What walked into the Den
Beach Powder appeared on Dragons' Den in season 18, episode 7, which aired in 2021, pitched by Stephanie Kelsey.
In the pitch, Beach Powder asked the Dragons for £60,000 for 49% of the business, valuing the business at about £122,449.
After the show
What happened next
On air, Beach Powder agreed a deal of £60,000 for 49%, backed by Touker Suleyman and Sara Davies. The terms are quoted from the aired episode as public record.
Our read
The Hub verdict
Stephanie Kelsey opened Beach Powder at £60,000 for 10 percent, which prices the sand-removing powder at £600,000. She did not keep that price. The deal that closed was the same £60,000 for 49 percent, split evenly between Sara Davies and Touker Suleyman at 24.5 percent each, which resets the implied valuation to about £122,449.
Going from a tenth of the company to a point short of half is one of the steepest concessions in this set, and it is the shape a negotiation takes when the founder wants the cash more than the price. Splitting a near-half stake between two investors is common when the sum is modest but the founder wants two lots of contacts, and a powder that brushes sand off skin is a neat single-problem product that lives or dies on retail.
A tenth offered, nearly half conceded, split two ways.
