The ingenious energy saving solution appeared on the popular BBC2 TV show and secured a £50,000 offer of investment from judge Piers Linney. EnergyEgg is the brainchild of Brian O’Reilly, a 38-year-old entrepreneur and father of four who found himself constantly nagging his wife and children for leaving appliances on when nobody was using them around their home.
His innovation went before Piers, Duncan Bannatyne, Peter Jones, Kelly Hoppen and Deborah Meaden in a bid to secure additional funding - and received positive feedback in the Den. Interior designer Kelly said she ‘would buy one’ and declared Brian had ‘created something that’s incredibly useful’, while leisure and marketing expert Deborah also showed an interest in the product, stating: ‘I like it’. In the end, it was cloud computing guru Piers who made an offer of investment. “It’s very simple. That’s what I like about it”, he commented.
But despite convincing Piers to back his venture, Brian was unable to proceed with the offer as it was dependent on the views of his other investors.
“To appear on national TV and gain such positive feedback from some of the most respected players in British industry was fantastic,” Brian recalled. “The show attracts several million viewers each week and although it was a slightly nerve-wracking experience for me it was definitely worthwhile and a great platform to build on. I’m hoping my appearance will help take energyEgg to a new level of awareness and spread the word far and wide.”
The invention automatically turns off devices such as TV’s, games consoles, DVD players and lights when they’re not being used – typically saving 30% on the running costs of connected appliances and lights.
Prices for the range start from £49.99 RRP as Brian concluded: “Dragons’ Den was a brilliant experience and to gain an offer of investment was a huge vote of confidence in the product. We’re working through a product roadmap where we’re building Wi-Fi technology into the energyEGG – we’re hoping to launch the phone app in a matter of months. Unfortunately we were unable to proceed with the investment but the positive feedback from the judges proves there’s plenty of energy left in my invention.”
