Online entrepreneur and 2003 Young Gun Ben Hardyment has received a £250,000 investment from Theo Paphitis following a successful pitch on Dragons’ Den.
The largest ever investment from a single Dragon entitles Paphitis to a 30% stake in online company Zapper.
Launched in 2011, Zapper offers customers the opportunity to value and sell their unused books, CDs and DVDs for a share of the profit.
Boasting 5,000 customers, a monthly revenue of £150,000 and a £23m turnover forecast for 2014, Hardyment originally offered the Dragons a 7.5% stake in return for their cash.
However, after being accused of insulting the Dragons by offering them less equity than that of previous investors, the entrepreneur was forced to give away four times more equity than originally planned.
Nonetheless, the online retail company, whose largest competitor musicMagpie boasts annual revenues of £100m, impressed Paphitis who waited for the other Dragons to back out before showing interest.
Zapper is the second online venture from the 2003 Young Gun, who sold his DVD rental site webflix.co.uk to LoveFilm.com for £150,000 in 2005.