TMGuard Research Report

IP in the Den

We analysed 419 brands from 171 episodes of BBC Dragons' Den (2014-2026) to answer one question: does intellectual property actually matter when seeking investment?

The answer is in the data.

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419
brands analysed
from 171 episodes
-
of invested brands had registered IP before pitching
-
of brands didn't own their .co.uk domain
-
brands involved in IPO opposition proceedings
-%
overall investment rate
-
of analysed brands still active on Companies House
IP & Investment Correlation

Does IP influence the Dragons?

We cross-referenced every brand's IP status before their pitch with the investment outcome. Here's what the data shows.

Got Investment
-%
had registered IP before pitching
-% still active on Companies House
No Deal
-%
had registered IP before pitching
-% still active on Companies House
Dragon Portfolio Analysis

Which Dragon backs IP the most?

We tracked every Dragon's investment portfolio and measured how often they backed brands with existing intellectual property.

Post-Show Outcomes

What happened after the cameras stopped rolling?

We cross-referenced every brand against Companies House, the UK trademark register, and IPO opposition records.

-%
Invested brands still active
of brands that received investment are still active on Companies House today
-%
Dissolved
of analysed brands have since been dissolved on Companies House
-
Filed new trademarks
brands filed additional trademark applications after appearing on the show
-%
Have trademark conflicts
of brands have existing marks in the register that could pose a conflict
Methodology

How we built this analysis

📚
Data Sources
  • •IPO Dragons' Den blog (Open Government Licence v3.0)
  • •UK and EU trademark registers (7M+ marks)
  • •Companies House (5M+ companies)
  • •TMGuard opposition decisions database (9,300+ decisions since 1998)
🤖
Analysis
  • •AI-enriched extraction using Anthropic Claude with human review
  • •Cross-referenced against TMGuard's proprietary matching engine
  • •Trademark conflict scoring across phonetic, visual, and class similarity
  • •Domain availability and Companies House status verification
📊
Coverage
  • •171 episodes (2014-2026)
  • •419 brands extracted and analysed
  • •- brands fully enriched with TM, CH, and domain data
  • •Last updated: -
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Dragons' Den is a trademark of Sony Pictures Television / BBC. TMGuard is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to BBC, Sony Pictures Television, or Dragons' Den. Data derived from the IPO's Dragons' Den blog under Open Government Licence v3.0.