A company manufacturing and supplying retractable, portable dog safety gates won a £50,000 investment from entrepreneur Deborah Meaden when its owners appeared on the BBC One hit series Drtagons' Den.
Father and son, Peter and Chris Maxted, from Horsham, appeared in the Den last Thursday, seeking investment for their Dog-G8 company.
Peter and Chris impressed the Dragons with their pitch and received two offers – the other from Sara Davies – but decided to go with Deborah Meaden because of her current links with the pet industry. In return for her £50,000 investment, she asked for a 20% equity in the business.
The Dog-G8 gate was the inspiration of Peter, the founder of the company, who has been a pet sitter for over 20 years.
Peter was very aware of the risks associated with dogs at front doors – escapes, attacks and thefts – and although there were other gates on the market, he felt they were inadequate and ineffective enough to work for all breeds.
He decided to design and sell his own version so he could keep his and client’s dogs safer at the front door.
Peter’s son Chris is also a director in the business and has been working alongside Merseyside Dog Safety Partnership and the University of Liverpool to raise awareness of dog attacks and their impact on delivery workers.
The Dog-G8 product is British made and features a modular, retractable, and portable design. The product is incredibly versatile and can be used on multiple configurations ranging from the front door to stairways, hallways, motorhomes, caravans and more. The gates modular design enables it to be spanned to any width, allowing the gate to be fitted to the widest of configurations such as patio doors or extra-wide openings where standard, conventional gates cannot fit.
The gate is made from mild steel, coated in chrome or white powder coat, bolted together with bespoke, customised clips which give the gate strength and durability.
When the gate is not in use it sits flat and compact to one side it’s neat, unobtrusive, and out of the way. Finally, it is removable, enabling it to be easily stored away or docked to other configurations (if extra brackets are purchased).
Since launch the company has seen massive growth and now sells directly to customer in the UK, Canada, United States, and Europe. The product went viral on TikTok & Facebook attracting over 80 million organic views across all videos and they attended Crufts last year for the first time where the product was well received. The Dog-G8 Company were the Theo Paphitis' Small Business Sunday Winner in March 2021.
The Dog-G8 Company is working on bringing out new variants of the current products. The business will launch a taller version of the gate within the next few months, ready for Crufts 2023, alongside offering customers a range of new colours. Now only two colours are available, Chrome and White in one height.
The business is looking to widen its distribution network by targeting the trade and wholesalers in the next year and is looking for investment to fulfil their ambitious plans for the future. Tune in to see if they can find a Dragon to invest in their business.
The gates are available to buy directly from www.dog-g8.com. Prices start from £62.95 for a standard gate and come with a range of accessories, extensions and brackets.
