The Dragons from BBC's Dragons' Den have all built up impressive business empires, but some are worth a lot more than others. Since the show first aired in 2005, 21 business bigwigs have sat in the famous chairs to hear entrepreneurs pitch their ideas for cash and advice.
Peter Jones is the only Dragon who has appeared in all 21 series of the show, and he's currently joined by Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, Sara Davies and Steven Bartlett. Each Dragon has had their own journey to success and has become incredibly rich as a result.
But how did these money moguls build their amazing fortunes and which one of them is the richest?
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Peter Jones
Peter Jones stands out among the rest of the Dragons, both literally and metaphorically. He's the only Dragon still standing from the very first series 19 years ago, and he's also the richest. According to the Sunday Times Rich List in 2023, he reportedly has a net worth of £1.2billion.
He started his journey to wealth as a young man by setting up his tennis coaching school. At just 16, he started a business making personal computers under his brand, but it failed when he was in his twenties. This forced him to move out of his three-bedroom home and back in with his parents.
Peter opened his own co*cktail bar in Windsor, inspired by the Tom Cruise film co*cktail, and started Phones International Group in 1998. In 2005, he joined forces with Theo Paphitis to purchase gift experience company Red Letter Days from their fellow Dragon Rachel Elnaugh after it went into administration.
He became the owner and chief executive of Jessops in 2013. His most well-known investment is Reggae Reggae Sauce, which has made Levi Roots a millionaire. Peter thinks it was one of his best investments from the show and he still holds shares in the brand.
Touker Suleyman
Touker Suleyman brought his 40 years of retail and manufacturing experience to the Den in 2015. After starting at a chartered accountancy firm, Touker was introduced to the fashion business while doing an audit and began his retail career at 18.
He entered a joint venture in a leather factory and soon set up a clothing manufacturer supplying some of the biggest names on the British high street. However, he faced a challenge when he bought a stake in clothing business Mellins, then auditors found significant debt behind one of his business ventures and he had six weeks to find £2million.
Sadly, a potential investor backed out at the last moment, causing the business to go into liquidation. This forced him to sell his house and start from scratch. He bought a small cash-and-carry business which later became Low Profile Group, a clothing manufacturer supplying MandS. He then purchased the classic British menswear brand Hawes and Curtis for £1 when it was on the brink of administration.
He managed to turn around the fortunes of Hawes and Curtis, building a successful international clothing manufacturer. The company's turnover increased from £600,000 in 2001 to £30m in 2014. Touker is also known for reviving the iconic 90s womenswear label Ghost and is now a serial entrepreneur.
Some of Touker's best deals in the Den have been for Beamblock Yogo, Timberkits, Bad Brownie and Collagin. The Sunday Times Rich List estimated his net worth as £200k back in 2015 - and he's come a long way since then.
Deborah Meaden
Deborah Meaden, a popular Dragon, joined the Den for the third series. She launched her first business straight after college at the age of 19 and is now reportedly worth around £50m.
She started a company importing glass and ceramics, supplying shops like Harvey Nichols, but sadly, it didn't work out after 18 months. But Deborah didn't give up on business. She took on a franchise for Italian clothing company Stefanel, setting up one of the first in the UK, then ran a Prize Bingo game at Butlin's.
Later, she joined her family business, Weststar Holidays, and eventually became the boss. In 1999, she bought most of the shares in a management buyout, later selling the company for £33m while keeping a 23 percent stake which she sold in 2007 when Weststar was bought for £83m.
Deborah's next move was to buy woollen cloth makers Fox Brothers and now she's a full-time investor with lots of different businesses. Over the years, Deborah has put money into Yee Kwan Ice Cream, Marxman and Boot Buddy in the Den. One of her biggest wins was Magic Whiteboard back in 2006.
She teamed up with Theo Paphitis to invest £100k for a 40 percent share in the company, which has reportedly become their best-ever deal. Now used in schools all over the country, the owners bought back Deborah and Theo's shares in 2014 for a huge £800k which is eight times what they paid for them.
Sara Davies
Sara Davies joined the Den in 2019 when she was just 35, and is reportedly worth an amazing £37m. Sara started Crafter's Companion, a retail business specialising in crafting, 13 years ago from her bedroom at university.
Sara spotted a need for an envelope-making tool for card makers. With her engineer Dad's help, she invented one called The Envelope. Thousands of crafters bought them, and by the time she graduated, her business had made £500k.
She has won over 25 business awards and was recognised for her contribution to the economy with an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in 2016. Some of Sara's best investments include Mak Tok's Malaysian Chilli Paste, Pipe Easy cutting tool, and Shower Gem, a bathroom storage solution.
Steven Bartlett
Steven Bartlett is the youngest Dragon in Den history. He dropped out of university at 18 and had to resort to shoplifting from corner shops to avoid going hungry. At just 21, Steven started Social Chain, a social media marketing company, from his bedroom in Manchester.
By the time he was 27, the company had gone public, merged with German retailer Lumaland, and left the business in 2020 with an estimated market value of over £400m. Steven is also a speaker, author, content creator, and host of one of Europe's biggest podcasts, The Diary of a CEO.
He's an investor and creative director at Atai Life Sciences, a company that wants to change how we treat mental health problems. He also sits on the board of Huel - one of the UK's quickest growing online businesses. Steven is said to be worth £68m.
