Series: 1

Notable investments:

• Mychorrhizal Systems

Simon Woodroffe is the founder of YO! Sushi, growing it from one restaurant in Soho back in 1997 to 12 restaurants throughout the UK. He sold his controlling issue in the company for £10m in 2003. Now in the US, Europe and the Middle East, Simon gets about 1 per cent of the business’ gross sales.

He only appeared in the first series of Dragons’ Den. There, he invested £75,000 in Mychorrhizal Systems, who manufactured black truffles. This was the only investment he made, but it fell through after the show.

He left the Den because he didn’t like the way the entrepreneurs were treated.

These days, Simon lives on a houseboat in Chelsea and does speaking gigs at corporate and promotional events.

He has also expanded the YO! offering. He launched YOTEL in 2007 (1,000 in three countries, with more planned) as well as YO! Home, a property venture and YO! Foundation, which donates to different charities.