All five Dragons’ Den stars rejected company now worth £12,000,000
He impressed them all, but not enough to invest.
An entrepreneur who was rejected by all five investors on Dragons’ Den three years ago has now revealed his company is worth a whopping £12,000,000.
Mark Wong entered the Den on the BBC One competition with his non-alcoholic beer brand Impossibrew, asking for £45,000 for 10% of his company.
‘I love beer, but because of my health, I had to stop two years ago,’ he explained to the likes of Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, Sara Davies and Steven Bartlett.
The entrepreneur had been warned his liver wasn’t well, and he knew he had to make a change.
‘Since then I’m on an impossible mission to find a healthier alternative to alcohol, for when you don’t want to drink but still want to unwind with a pint.’
Discussing his rise to entrepreneurship, the then-24-year-old revealed how he’d left Hong Kong at aged 13 alone with his brother and without his parents to study in the UK, but faced a ‘difficult’ experience as the only Asian child in the school.
But over the years, he picked up valuable skills to fit in, explaining: ‘There was one thing I did note, if you know how to make a cocktail, how to brew a beer, you’d get invited to parties.’
He went on: ‘The passion that I have for this, and my adaptability, because I came over to the UK with my brother, just the two of us, when I was 13, and I knew no English.
‘And I really just went at it, kept learning English and trying everything I can and eventually I got a double scholarship in school and became the first non-Caucasian headboy in school.
‘From that, it’s really about challenging the impossible.’
All five Dragons rejected Mark’s pitch, despite being impressed by his entrepreneurial talent (Picture: BBC Studios) Mark Wong bought his non-alcoholic beer company to the Den (Picture: BBC / Dragons’ Den)Upon returning to Asia later on in life, Mark discovered ‘a whole new world’ of functional plants that were used to brew tea for ‘relaxing, medicinal benefits’, which inspired him to produce into beer.
An initial limited batch sold out within 12 weeks, with his sales doubling every month.
Since then, Impossibrew has skyrocketed, with a January fund aiming for £500,000 investment reaching £1,575,390 from 1,204 investors.
Now, the pre-money valuation of the company stands at £12,000,000, and Impossibrew saw more than £500,000 in sales from January 2025 alone.
In fact, the company is selling a beer every 15 seconds on the website, with more than 1million cans sold in the last 12 months.
However, the Dragons weren’t so convinced by its future success when they first heard of it.
He was looking for £45,000 from an investor (Picture: BBC) Deborah Meaden was the first to praise the beer based on its taste (Picture: BBC)During Mark’s pitch in the Den, Deborah, upon tasting the beer, praised: ‘It tastes lovely, it really tastes good.’
‘I don’t really like beer, but I can probably sit and drink that whole glass, and for 49 calories I might let myself drink the whole glass,’ Sara added.
However, despite the taste, the Dragons weren’t willing to invest.
‘Mark, I think you’ve been full of good answers. Your presentation is impeccable, Peter was about to go out and you rescued him, Deborah had a great question and your answer was superb,’ Steven said.
‘So then my focus comes to the product, and I think, is it the best non-alcoholic beer I’ve tasted? Probably not.
‘Then I think about the shelf wars and the Brewdogs of the world, who all have their non-alcoholic options, and I think it’s going to be incredibly difficult for you to go through that retail route, you’re going to figure it out, but just not with me as an investor.’
Sara Davies was impressed after tasting the beer (Picture: BBC) ‘I think you’ve been full of good answers,’ Steven Bartlett praised (Picture: BBC)Touker then commented: ‘You are the most credible 24-year-old that has ever walked through those doors.
‘It’s a shame that you didn’t walk through with a bit more traction, like £200,000 turnover.
‘That is a stumbling block in my head in an area that I’m not too familiar with.
‘But I’ll say this to you, if ever you have another business that I am familiar with, I’d definitely back you. Unfortunately, in the beer venture, I’m out.’
‘I think the product is great, you’re clearly a great beer brewer, but I don’t know if that price point is going to work outside of a £10,000 test… so regretfully I’m not going to be able to invest today, I’m out,’ Sara echoed.
Deborah said: ‘I do think you’ve got a business here and I think you’re going to win a section of the market- there is a but coming here – I think you’re going to get a lot of one-off purchases and when you get a lot of one-off purchases it becomes really expensive to acquire new consumers online.
‘I’m afraid I’m not convinced, so I won’t be investing, I’m out.’
Touker called Mark the ‘most credible 24-year-old that has ever walked through those doors’ (Picture: BBC) Peter Jones wasn’t ‘excited’ enough to invest (Picture: BBC / Dragon’s Den)Concluding the rejections, Peter said: ‘You’ve done everything right, you’ve pitched at the right amount, you’ve answered the right questions.’
He added: ‘You have a nice little business for you, but it’s not as exciting as the taste of the beer, so sadly for that reason I’m going to say that I’m out, but good luck.’
However, Mark has gone on to prove them all wrong and revealed how shocked he is to have secured funding three years after being rejected on the show, and teased his future plans for Impossibrew.
He said: ‘We’re overwhelmed by the incredible support, from our existing investors and community, reaching our funding target of £500,000 in just 35 minutes during the priority access phase, surpassing £1.2million within 24 hours of public launch and completing at nearly £1.6miliion.
‘We’re incredibly grateful for the over 1200 who decided to support our mission to revolutionise social drinking.
‘The funding will accelerate our patent-pending Social Blend™ technology development and expand nationwide availability, plus building a world-class team to support our ambitious growth plans with a focus on phased approach expanding our retail and trade presence nationwide through strategic partnerships – making the future of drinking accessible to everyone.
Mark’s company is now worth £12,000,000 (Picture: BBC) He turned the rejections into motivation (Picture: BBC / Dragons’ Den)‘It’s humbling to see so many people believe in our vision, and we’re excited for what the future holds as we move ever closer towards our goal of becoming the world’s best alcohol alternative company.’
He added: ‘Dragons’ Den was a pivotal moment for us. While we didn’t secure investment, the experience gave us something far more valuable – validation that we were creating something people truly wanted.
‘The response following our appearance was incredible, showing us there was genuine appetite for a third choice beyond just drinking and not drinking.
‘Three years on, what started in that Den has grown into something remarkable.
‘January has always been our strongest month, but we’re seeing sustained growth year-round as more people embrace mindful drinking and seek enhanced alcohol alternatives. They’re not just looking for alcohol-free beer – they want the complete experience that an enhanced beer can provide.
‘I’m excited to tune into Dragons’ Den this season and see the next wave of British innovation. While our journey took a different path than expected that day, the Den was undoubtedly a launching pad for what IMPOSSIBREW has become.
‘Sometimes the best opportunities come from hearing ‘no’ and turning it into motivation to prove what’s possible.’
Dragons’ Den airs Thursdays at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
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