Choppity makes the cut on Dragons’ Den

A North East-based AI video editing platform is celebrating a major milestone after securing a £100,000 investment offer on BBC’s Dragons’ Den.

Choppity, a web-based automated video editor founded in Durham, impressed the Dragons with its intuitive platform, designed to simplify video editing for businesses and creators, with Steven Bartlett describing it as “Canva for video”. 

The platform is already used in production by leading companies such as ITN, Autotrader, Turtle Bay and Sonatype.

Co-founders Zara Paul and Aaron Morris pitched for £100,000 in exchange for 6 per cent equity and received offers from three Dragons, with Peter Jones securing the deal, offering £100,000 for 15 per cent, with the option to reduce his stake to 12.5 per cent upon repayment.

While both parties later opted not to proceed with the investment, the Choppity team remains focused on expansion, with plans to roll out new editing services to enhance functionality.

Zara said: “It was an unforgettable moment to be in that room, presenting something we’ve worked so hard on. Then to receive three investment offers from some of the UK’s top entrepreneurs was just incredible.

“The night before our pitch, I had a dream that Peter offered us a deal, so when that happened in reality, I couldn’t believe it. 

“We’re very grateful to the show and the opportunity it gave us.”

You can watch Dragons' Den on BBC iPlayer here.

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