Full steam ahead for Dragons’ stake in entrepreneur’s pitch

WALKING into the Dragons’ Den, entrepreneurs usually expecting a roasting.

But months of hard grind have paid off for young businessman Diarmaid Twomey who secured a €27,500 shot in the arm for his coffee cup advertising business.

Cork-based Diarmaid pitched his idea to the five dragons last night during the last in the current series of the hit show.

He offered a 20% stake for a €27,500 investment in his Expresso Ads business, a company which places targeted advertising on disposable coffee cups.

Four of the five dragons were interested but he took up the offer from two — magazine publisher Norah Casey and coffee guru Bobby Kerr — for a 40% stake in his business.

He hopes to be turning over more than €500,000 within two years.

“I knew I was on to a winner if I could offer some of the bigger Irish and international companies a specific demographic by utilising an existing market,” Diarmaid said.

“It’s one thing offering a customer 100,000 cups to be distributed to 50 cafes but what we do is look at the demographic of these customers to ensure our advertisers specific targets are struck.

“Because of this, I was really focussed on getting Bobby Kerr and Insomnia on board.”

Kerr is chairman of the Insomnia coffee brand which has more than 50 outlets in Ireland.

“I knew that if I could win Bobby over that it would give the business an excellent platform to grow and would provide potential advertisers with a particular demographic from the beginning,” Diarmaid said.

Kerr described Expresso Ads as “a great business and just so obvious”.

“We’re working hard to get everything ready for the market and talking to all the key players. It’s a new lease of life for the coffee business,” he said.

Diarmaid founded the company last year after spotting an opportunity while at a match in Croke Park where hundreds of spectators were drinking from unbranded cups.