 Matt Hazell pitches his idea to the Dragons' Den panel |
A Kent businessman successfully persuaded a millionaire to invest in a potentially life-saving sonar device when he entered BBC Two's Dragons' Den. Matt Hazell, from Ramsgate, invented Mermaid-id, which tells the driver of a boat if someone falls overboard.
It gives audible and visual alarms and logs the man overboard's GPS co-ordinates when he enters the water.
For �100,000 Mr Hazell had to sell 30% of his firm to Richard Farleigh, after originally offering just 5% of it.
However, he now hopes to have a turnover of millions once a prototype has been developed.
He got the idea for Mermaid-id when his business partner Adam Lifland, who owns a yacht company in the US, was asked to sell a boat for a captain who had lost someone overboard.
Mr Hazell and Mr Lifland formed a company using the name of the captain's boat, First Light, and developed the sonar device, which is worn as a pendant by crew members.
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