Levi Roots agreed to give investors 40% of Reggae Reggae Sauce after his Dragons' Den pitch.
Roots pitched the sauce in the 2007 series of the British programme and secured a £50,000 investment from Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh. In return, the investors received a 40% share of the business.
The deal is frequently cited because it illustrates the central trade-off in Dragons' Den: an entrepreneur can obtain funding, expertise and commercial connections, but must surrender part of the company. Roots then expanded the sauce from a small family-linked product into a broader branded food business.
The percentage is sometimes confused with the cash value. £50,000 was the investment amount, while 40% was the equity stake. The investors' stake was therefore not 40% of the cash raised; it represented ownership in the business under the agreed deal.