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Stratford couple’s unique pitch wins all five Dragons




THE Stratford couple who made their pitch to BBC’s Dragons’ Den have made television history by asking for just £1 in return for a one per cent stake in their company – winning over all five Dragons.

Simon Hood and Charlene Mitchell-Hood, married cofounders of Sooper Books, appeared on the new series of the show last Thursday with their mission to be the world’s best storybook streaming service making reading exciting for children and effortless for parents.

Sooper Books in the Den.
Sooper Books in the Den.

The author-illustrator couple pitched in rhyme to the Dragons’ team of Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman, Deborah Meaden, Steven Bartlett and Sara Davies, before revealing an original story featuring the Dragons.

The Dragons were instantly drawn to their ambition and drive, with all five immediately expressing interest in the business.

But there was clear interest from all the Dragons from the start.

Suleyman, known as the Dragon who ‘won’t get out of bed for one per cent’ stunned his colleagues by agreeing to the offer. Shortly after, in another Dragons’ Den first, all five Dragons got up from their chairs and headed to the back wall to discuss the opportunity before all separately offering £1 for a one per cent stake in Sooper Books.

Charlene said: “We knew offering the Dragons such a small stake might backfire on us – they could mistakenly think we weren’t serious about the business or their investment. Luckily they saw the commitment and ambition we have for Sooper Books and our drive to support other parents in tackling growing literacy issues around the world.”

When lockdown hit in 2020, the couple realised they wanted to truly make a difference to families all around the country who were either struggling to read with or to their children, or just wanted access to more unique stories. And so they began offering their stories for free online to all UK primary schools.

Simon said: “Just six weeks after offering our content for free to primary schools we jumped to number 1 in Google for ‘bedtime stories’ in over 50 countries. We went from zero page views to over a million in weeks and we’ve now surpassed 25 million views, with the UK and the US being our largest audiences. We’ve hired a world-class team, published over 200 exclusive stories and audiobooks and kept to our “read free” promise by always having 100 stories and audiobooks completely free for all families to enjoy.”



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