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Dragon’s Den: Where to shop tonight’s brands from My Skin Feels to Sprive
Entrepreneurs pitching everything from flavour seasoning bombs and a portable golf ball cleaner also feature tonight
With the return of The Apprentice and Dragons’ Den last week, Business Thursdays on the BBC are well and truly back. This time around, four intimidating dragons and one guest star will appraise a new batch of founders seeking cash to supercharge their businesses.
Footballer-turned-businessman Gary Neville takes the guest seat last filled by beauty mogul Jenna Meek. Returning for the first time in two years, Neville proved a surprise hit in 2024, investing in everything from a sports recovery brand to ceremonial-grade cacao.
Neville joins Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Steven Bartlett and Touker Suleyman as they put four businesses under the microscope, with pitches ranging from skincare made from recycled food waste and a portable golf ball cleaner to pre-prepared seasoning bombs and a mortgage overpayment app. Here’s everything you need to know.
My Skin Feels: Myskinfeels.com
First in the Den this week is Brighton-based Danielle Close, who believes an unlikely ingredient could be the future of sustainable skincare – but will green queen Deborah Meaden, or any of the other dragons, bite?
Founded in 2023, My Skin Feels is a vegan skincare brand that ferments rescued organic food waste from the Italian food and drinks industry, including breakfast oats, olive oil by-products, tomato skins and citrus juice. The brand says the fermentation process boosts the ingredients’ antioxidant and postbiotic content, claiming 99.57 per cent natural formulations.
My Skin Feels sells two products. There’s the My Skin Feels Moisturised, which costs £36 and is made from a blend of organic shea butter, organic rosehip oil and fermented rescued breakfast oats and olive oil waste. Then there’s My Skin Feels Clean, which costs £26 and is a gel-to-foam facial cleanser, made from the same fermented blend.
Read more: 22 best vegan and cruelty-free skincare brands we love
Swish golf ball cleaner: £22.99, Amazon.co.uk
Next in the den is married couple Ben and Natalia Reeves, who think they’ve found the perfect accessory for golfers who are sick of playing with muddy balls. A product perfect for keen golfers Peter Jones and Gary Neville; will the entrepreneurs get a hole-in-one?
Launched in 2024, the Swish golf ball cleaner is a compact, portable device designed to quickly clean golf balls in seconds while on the green, without needing lots of water or the gross spit method. For those who aren’t used to being on the green, a clean golf ball leads to better accuracy and more consistent shots.
The Swish golf ball cleaner costs £22.99 at Amazon and comes in pink, yellow, teal, white and black. How does it work? You add a bit of water, pop your golf ball into the device, rotate it around in your hands for a few seconds, and it’ll come out clean. It clips onto golf bags.
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Sprive app: Sprive.com
Third in the den is former Goldman Sachs director turned entrepreneur Jinesh Vohra, who has developed a free app designed to help homeowners pay off their mortgages faster.
Launched in 2021, Sprive links to a user’s bank account via open banking and analyses their income and spending. Using AI, the app identifies small amounts of spare cash that users can afford to set aside without affecting everyday finances. That money is moved into a Sprive account in the user’s name and can then be sent to their mortgage lender as an overpayment with a single tap.
But as well as auto-saving, Sprive also lets users earn rewards just by shopping. Users can buy digital gift cards inside the app for everyday retailers, including supermarkets and online shops, which earns you up to 15 per cent in cashback. That cashback is paid into a Sprive pot and can then be sent to the user’s mortgage as an overpayment, while the gift cards can be used to pay for shopping as normal.
Flavour Bombs: £9.99, Amazon.co.uk
Last but not least, the final set of entrepreneurs entering the den this evening is married couple Tina Faghihi-Hallam and Olly Hallam, two foodies who believe they’ve found a shortcut for home cooks looking to add international flavours to everyday meals.
Launched in 2024, Flavour Bombs makes pre-prepared seasoning bombs designed to act as complete flavour bases for a range of global dishes. Each bomb combines ingredients such as tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs and spices, ready to be dropped straight into a pan with water or stock to create a sauce, broth or curry base without the need for chopping or measuring.
The range includes several flavours to help you create your favourite international dishes from home, including birria tacos, butter chicken, seafood boil, Vietnamese pho, West African jollof and coconut curry. Flavour Bombs comes in a pack of two and costs £9.99.
Missed last week’s episode? Here’s a recap of every business pitching previously
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