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Business Thursdays Return with Dragons' Den Revival
With both The Apprentice and Dragons' Den making their triumphant returns to BBC schedules last week, Thursday evenings have firmly re-established themselves as must-watch business television. The latest episode promises particularly compelling viewing as football icon turned entrepreneur Gary Neville makes his highly anticipated return to the Den after a two-year absence.
Gary Neville's Surprise Return to the Dragons' Panel
Taking the guest dragon seat previously occupied by beauty mogul Jenna Meek, Gary Neville proved an unexpected success during his 2024 appearance, demonstrating shrewd investment instincts across diverse sectors from sports recovery brands to ceremonial-grade cacao products. His return adds considerable sporting and business expertise to the formidable panel that includes seasoned investors Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Steven Bartlett and Touker Suleyman.
Tonight's episode sees four ambitious entrepreneurs present their businesses to the intimidating dragons, hoping to secure crucial investment to accelerate their growth. The pitches span multiple industries from sustainable beauty innovations to financial technology solutions and culinary convenience products.
Tonight's Four Business Pitches in Detail
My Skin Feels: Sustainable Skincare from Food Waste
First to face the dragons is Brighton-based entrepreneur Danielle Close with My Skin Feels, a vegan skincare brand founded in 2023 that transforms rescued organic food waste into premium beauty products. The innovative company ferments discarded materials from Italy's food and drink industry including breakfast oats, olive oil by-products, tomato skins and citrus juice remnants.
The fermentation process reportedly enhances the antioxidant and postbiotic content of these rescued ingredients, resulting in formulations that claim to be 99.57% natural. The brand currently offers two main products:
- My Skin Feels Moisturised (£36) - A nourishing cream blending organic shea butter, organic rosehip oil with fermented rescued breakfast oats and olive oil waste
- My Skin Feels Clean (£26) - A gel-to-foam facial cleanser created from the same fermented blend of rescued ingredients
The crucial question facing founder Danielle Close is whether sustainability champion Deborah Meaden or any of the other dragons will recognise the commercial potential in this eco-conscious beauty venture.
Swish Golf Ball Cleaner: Portable Solution for Golfers
Married entrepreneurs Ben and Natalia Reeves present their Swish golf ball cleaner, a compact portable device launched in 2024 designed to clean golf balls efficiently during play. The product addresses a common frustration for golfers who find themselves playing with muddy or dirty balls that can negatively impact accuracy and shot consistency.
The innovative cleaner requires minimal water and eliminates the need for traditional cleaning methods. Users simply add a small amount of water, insert their golf ball, rotate the device for a few seconds, and retrieve a clean ball ready for play. Available in five colours including pink, yellow, teal, white and black, the £22.99 device conveniently clips onto golf bags for easy access during rounds.
With both Peter Jones and Gary Neville being keen golfers themselves, the entrepreneurs will be hoping their practical solution scores a hole-in-one with the investment panel.
Sprive App: AI-Powered Mortgage Overpayment Solution
Former Goldman Sachs director turned entrepreneur Jinesh Vohra presents Sprive, a free mobile application launched in 2021 that helps homeowners pay off their mortgages faster through intelligent financial management. The app connects securely to users' bank accounts via open banking technology, analysing income and expenditure patterns to identify small amounts of disposable income that can be safely allocated to mortgage overpayments.
Using artificial intelligence algorithms, Sprive determines affordable amounts that won't impact users' daily finances, automatically transferring these sums to a dedicated Sprive account. From there, users can make mortgage overpayments to their lender with a single tap. The platform offers an additional innovative feature through its rewards programme, where users can purchase digital gift cards for everyday retailers within the app, earning up to 15% cashback that can also be directed toward mortgage reduction.
Flavour Bombs: Pre-Prepared Global Seasoning Solutions
Married food enthusiasts Tina Faghihi-Hallam and Olly Hallam complete tonight's lineup with Flavour Bombs, their 2024-launched range of pre-prepared seasoning bombs designed to simplify international cooking at home. Each compact bomb contains carefully measured combinations of ingredients including tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs and spices, serving as complete flavour bases for various global dishes.
The convenient products eliminate time-consuming preparation work, allowing home cooks to simply drop a bomb into a pan with water or stock to create authentic sauces, broths or curry bases without chopping or measuring. The current range enables preparation of diverse international favourites including birria tacos, butter chicken, seafood boil, Vietnamese pho, West African jollof and coconut curry. Priced at £9.99 for a pack of two, Flavour Bombs aims to bring restaurant-quality flavours to home kitchens with minimal effort.
What to Expect from Tonight's Episode
With Gary Neville bringing fresh perspective to the dragons' panel alongside established investors, tonight's episode promises rigorous scrutiny of these four diverse business propositions. The entrepreneurs will need to demonstrate not only commercial viability but also scalability, market understanding and passionate commitment to convince the experienced investors to part with their capital.
Each pitch represents distinct market opportunities across growing sectors including sustainable beauty, golf accessories, financial technology and convenient food solutions. The dragons will undoubtedly probe each business model thoroughly, examining everything from production costs and profit margins to marketing strategies and growth potential.
For viewers who missed last week's episode featuring the first businesses of the new series, comprehensive recaps are available detailing every pitch and investment decision from the returning show's premiere.
