Dragons’ Den Episode Results in Two Offers, One Deal, and No Money Again

Last week Techvibes reported that Vancouver’s Shnarped was the latest tech startup to get funding on CBC Dragons’ Den.

Tonight a couple startups from the East Coast got their chance to pitch the Dragons.

While both of them got offers, only one of them took it on air and we now know it died in due diligence between being filmed and airing (something we’ve seen before).

Up first was Waterloo’s PumpUp, a mobile app for people who want to get started with a fitness routine but don’t know where to start. It shows users what to do, how to do it, and over time, adapts their plans to ensure they don’t plateau.

The PumpUp team put Dragon Bruce Croxon through a workout but when it was time to ask for $100K for 10% of their company all five dragons cooled off quickly with Arlene Dickinson making her opinion clear asking “What’s a business model in an app?”

RELATED: Another Dragons’ Den Deal Dies in Due Diligence

Hamilton’s Trend Trunk was up next with Founder Sean Snyder literally coming out of a closet to to pitch his online clothing consignment site. Snyder explained that Trend Trunk allows consumers to “buy, sell, and donate their fashionably new and pre-loved clothing” and invited Dickinson to do a little shopping of her own.

Four of the Dragons found Snyder’s valuation high but O’Leary liked Snyder’s entrepreneurial spirit and made him an offer of $200K for 50% of his company. Snyder tried to negotiate but Mr. Wonderful called his offer “nonnegotiable”.

We now know that O’Leary and Snyder were unable to consummate their verbal deal from the April 2013 taping. Leveraging the buzz of tonight’s nationally broadcast show Trend Trunk is now crowdfunding a $50K deal of their own.

PumpUp was founded (and pitched tonight) by Garrett Gottlieb and Phil Jacobson in Waterloo’s VeloCity Garage and became members of Communitech’s Hyperdrive accelerator. The PumpUp App is available as a free download in the Apple App Store.

Trend Trunk has been a finalist for multiple Canada Post E-commerce Innovation Awards and won two awards at Hamilton’s Lion’s Lair.