Dragons' Den reached its conclusion last night with the latest batch of entrepreneurs seeking an investment from the Dragons.

Isis Adventure Series (available to buy from Firebox) was some kind of Rubiks-cum-geo-caching thing. Crack the puzzle to get the key inside which would reveal from the website the location of a prize somewhere in the UK. Though if theres a cash prize, why bother cracking the puzzle – just saw it open and get the key. They got an offer, despite some complication about the drawings for the puzzle being in the hands of the manufacturer, but turned it down to the obvious annoyance of Peter Jones.

Ecotech UK had a great invention that would be a battery supported intermediary device between TVs and the power supply to ensure that when it was set to standby, the power was actually cut off. Richard went for his usual suggestion – don’t make it, just licence it to manufacturers, but for once it seemed perfect strategy. All of the Dragons saw the potential, and all five Dragons wanted to invest – assuming a patent was granted – in what resembled some kind of entrepreneurial gang-bang as they all dived in. It was a great way to end the series on what seems like a brilliant invention.

The series finished with a recap on the success stories from the last series.

My series highlight was Foldio from Christian Lane. A great little product from a very impressive young entrepreneur and I look forward to seeing it in the shops.

My series lowlight was the investment made by Richard and Deborah in a ridiculous innovation which covers rotating washing lines, and required rainfall to come in an exact vertical line for it to keep the clothes dry. That they missed such an obvious flaw really made me question their judgement.

Dragons’ Den will return later in the year!

[Edit]

A contributor to this post pointed out that another standby power saver device exists, and actually seems to be nearer to being available in the market place than the one seen on Dragons' Den. It's called Savasocket and been endorsed by the Energy Saving Trust. They've issues a press release in response to what was shown on Dragons' Den:

PRESS RELEASE - 22nd March 2007
SAVASOCKET TO BENEFIT FROM DRAGON’S DEN

Any avid viewer of the BBC’s Dragon’s Den will have seen how – in an unprecedented move – all five dragons invested £20,000 each for a 50% share in Standby Saver – a remote controlled plug socket that saves energy.

One person who was paying particular attention to the proceedings was Yorkshire business owner James Dunne (right) who’s company has its own remote controlled, energy saving socket – the SAVASOCKET – in production and is actually further down the line in terms of it being available to the public.

“I was thrilled and intrigued when I saw the Standby Saver on Dragon’s Den for a number of reasons,” says James, director of Electratech Ltd. “It is great encouragement to know that five well known business investors can see the potential both to consumers and the environment of this type of product.“

Labels: dragons' den, tv