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Victory for Dragons' Den duo

Aug 13 2008

Dragons’ Den entrepreneurs Carolyn Jarvis and Charlotte Evans received a big spike in website hits and customer enquiries after receiving an investment of £80,000 from serial entrepreneur Deborah Meaden.

Jarvis and Evans, the inventors of a hold-all that can be attached to a child’s pushchair, say they received nearly 2,500 hits to their website immediately after the show, as well as 250 emails from people interested in buying the product.

Says Jarvis, ‘[The show] was all a bit nerve-racking but we made sure we were well prepared beforehand and ready to compromise on the stake in our company.’

Three of the five dragons from the BBC2 TV programme expressed an interest in the duo’s product, Buggyboot. However, Deborah Meaden won the battle for a stake in the business with a 30 per cent shareholding – three times more than Jarvis and Evans were looking to part with.

The duo, who both have young children, got the idea for Buggyboot after a series of frustrating shopping expeditions. Jarvis explains, ‘We wanted to make the family shopping experience much less stressful.’

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