The seventh episode of season 20 saw Alex Brees’ un:hurd, Fan Yang’s Other Foods, Zoe Chapman’s KiddiWhizz and Cally Russell’s This is Unfolded face the wrath of the Dragons, with two deals being struck.

Alex’s one-stop music marketing shop, un:hurd, launches data-driven marketing campaigns for independent musicians in minutes. Social media mogul Steven Bartlett challenged Alex’s line of thinking, suggesting that independent musicians would be better off investing in quality camera equipment and lighting to produce organic content on video-based social media platforms, such as TikTok and YouTube. When quizzed on organic marketing, slightly more than one in three business owners (37%) confirmed they are actively involved in their company’s current approach to search engine optimisation and understand it.

Despite the concerns raised, Alex eventually struck a deal with Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones. Initially seeking a £120,000 investment in exchange for a 4% stake of un:hurd, the two Dragons agreed to split the £120,000 investment for a 7.5% stake each.

However, it was Zoe’s pitch which was the favourite among respondents, with 81% of business owners voting in favour of the handheld unisex toilet. Zoe bravely revealed that she lives with bipolar disorder and described it as a “superpower” on her entrepreneur journey, prompting a question about the importance of neurodivergent representation in the UK workforce. It's estimated that around one in seven people in the UK are neurodivergent and 86% of business owners said that they currently employ a neurodivergent member of staff or would like to in the future.

Zoe struck a deal with both Sara Davies and Steven, receiving the full £50,000 investment that she was seeking in exchange for 25% of her business, split equally between the two Dragons. Respondents felt that it was the stronger deal of the episode’s two, garnering 67% of the votes.

Richard Osborne, founder and CEO of www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk, commented: “It was another interesting episode of Dragons’ Den, highlighting questions about the importance of marketing campaigns and shining an important spotlight on bipolar disorder and neurodivergence as a whole. Alex did incredibly well to walk away with a £120,000 investment despite Steven Bartlett openly questioning the entire premise of his marketing business, while Zoe’s unrivalled likability made it impossible to not root for her.”