Amber Probyn and Hazel McShane, University of Bristol alumni, invited Dragons’ Den tycoons to “spend a penny” with the hope of securing £100,000 in investment for a stake of two per cent. They have already won multiple awards for their “squat and go” female urinals. Among the accolades are the Best Toilet of the Year at the Festival Supplier Awards 2025 and being named one of Startups100’s most promising UK businesses.
Performance at major events
The young business founders made a passionate pitch on the impact and the future of the business. The flat packable urinals have already been used at major UK events, including Glastonbury, Shambala, TCS London Marathon and London Pride. The hard plastic boards are made partly using ocean plastic waste and are fully recyclable. Compared to portaloos, the urinals of the Bristol startup are almost three times faster to use with no water consumption. But the punchline of the pitch was “ending the never-ending queues to the loos” and restoring “peequality”. Signing off a bumper summer, the Peequal urinals have been used at 34 major festivals, including at their first-ever overseas festival – Electric Picnic in Ireland.
Read Also: Wrestling theme show comes to Bristol theatre
Dragons’ Den outcome
All the Dragons had a fully-clothed “dry run” of the urinals. But when it came to hard cash, things didn’t start well. Peter Jones, although impressed with the business, pulled out, citing they may have overvalued the business. Things didn’t get better as Touker Suleyman, Steven Bartlett and Jenna Meek also followed suit one by one, leaving Deborah Meaden as the sole Dragon remaining. Meaden, impressed with the pair’s vision and conviction, offered the full amount, but with a return of five per cent stake. Amber and Hazel made a counter-offer of four per cent in return, but Meaden stood her ground. After a brief pause, the pair accepted Meaden’s offer and went down the elevator flushed with success.
Financial outlook and expansion
In 2025, Peequal generated just under £250,000 and in 2026, it is projected to triple its revenue. Bolstered with a funding round over £1m in 2025, the Bristol startup has firmly set its sights on expanding its urinals to events across Europe, the US and Australia.