Children's storybook entrepreneurs make history on BBC's Dragon's Den

The latest entrepreneurs to pitch to BBC One's Dragons' Den are one of Stratford-on-Avon District Council's Venture House serviced office clients, Sooper Books Ltd.

Simon Hood and Charlene Mitchell-Hood, married co-founders of Sooper Books, appeared on episode 5 of the new season of the show last week.

They are on a mission to help solve the literacy problems in the UK and US with the ambition to be the world's best storybook streaming service making reading exciting for children and effortless for parents.

The idea originally came from being inspired by their daughter to create and tell bedtime stories.

The 5-10 minute children's stories consist of short digital and audible stories to multiple story episodes in series collections, featuring wibbly-wobbly aliens, a flying sheepdog, gouda trees, a posh rat and a one-leg-one-wheeled alligator monster to name but a few.

The author-illustrator couple from Stratford-upon-Avon performed a rhyming pitched and Dragon's Den short story to the formidable team of Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman, Deborah Meaden, Steven Bartlett and Sara Davies.

Simon and Charlene made Dragon's Den history as all five dragons invested in their business for 1% share at £1 each, after going to talk to the wall.

Sooper Books has occupied Venture House serviced office space since April 2022, where they are joined by five fellow small businesses in the suite of six affordable offices on the Avenue Farm Industrial Estate in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Stratford Town Trust's Community Hub occupies the ground floor of Venture House and runs a full range of events/activities for all as well as providing meeting/training rooms and a hotdesking service.

If you'd like to know more about flexible office and meeting space at Venture House and across South Warwickshire as a whole, click here: https://www.venturehousestratford.co.uk/

Seven months have passed since their Dragon's Den was filmed and Simon commented: "The future is exciting and having five dragons on this journey with us is incredible. We can't tell you too much about what we have lined up but it's very exciting. The contacts all the dragons have are just phenomenal."