Technology entrepreneur grows business by 300% since entering the Den
A Leeds-based technology entrepreneur appeared on BBC Two’s Dragons’ Den at 9pm on Sunday 24th September 2017.
The founder and CEO of revolutionary quiz technology, KwizzBit, was seen facing the infamous investors on Sunday evening’s show. Serial entrepreneur, Mark Walsh pitched to the panel, in the hope of securing investment to accelerate business growth and add additional knowledge and strategy to the team.
Despite failing to obtain his requested investment of £80,000 for 10% equity in the den and receiving fiery feedback which questioned the size of the market.
Mark, who entered the den back in May 2017, has since received funding worth £40,000 from the Business Enterprise Fund (BEP) and government-backed, UK Start-up Loans.
KwizzBit which launched in 2016, has also seen a significant growth in revenue since appearing on the show and appointed an additional member of staff to its core team, as well as a non-executive director to the board with 30 years’ experience in the licensed hospitality sector.
Francis Patton is a long-standing non-executive director of Cask Mark, an organisation set up to promote and develop an audit programme to ensure beer is served at the highest quality. He is also non-executive director on the board of the society of independent brewers and has joined KwizzBit in this year, set to drive the businesses’ growth within the pub market.
Since Mark encountered the Dragons, KwizzBit has grown the business by 300%, having implemented KwizzBit in a further 200 venues across the UK and aims to reach one million KwizzBit players by 2020. Significant growth has lead Mark to make a further three appointments to the team and will make additional recruits by the end of 2018.
Mark who has twenty years’ experience in sales and marketing also recently secured a contract to supply the platform to a national firm, who will roll out KwizzBit to staff training workshops across the country.
Commenting on his experience in the den, Mark Walsh said:
“Entering Dragon’s Den and meeting the Dragons was an incredible experience and one that will stay with me throughout my whole career. Since appearing on the show, I’ve learnt a huge amount and KwizzBit has gone from strength to strength; we’ve raised funding elsewhere, had a number of new recruits join us and we’ve increased sales significantly.
“I feel I represented myself and KwizzBit in the best way possible on the show and I feel really proud to have stood in front of some of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs. The whole process was very challenging but one that I would not change if I was to do it again.
“We’ve had some exciting things develop since Dragons’ Den and we’re more determined than ever to use KwizzBit to revolutionise the Great British pub and enter a number of other sectors.”
As Mark left the den he commented that he would like to meet the Dragon’s again, but be sitting next to them next time.
KwizzBit is played in a real-time format and combines the conventional elements of a quiz with the excitement of interactive digital entertainment. Allowing users to host and engage in entertaining multiplayer quizzes via a smartphone, players compete for the fastest finger first title.