Levi Roots secured a £50,000 Dragon’s Den investment for Reggae Reggae Sauce in 2007.
Roots, whose real name is Keith Valentine Graham, appeared on the programme to pitch his Caribbean-style sauce. The product was based on a family recipe and had already been sold at events before the television appearance brought it to a much wider audience.
The deal involved Dragons Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh, who invested in exchange for an equity stake. The televised pitch became one of the programme’s most recognisable success stories because the sauce moved from a small food venture into a nationally distributed brand.
Roots is a musician as well as an entrepreneur, and his stage name comes from his reggae career. The business is often remembered as a solo Dragon deal, but the original televised agreement involved two investors.