A Milton toy distribution company, best known for being the exclusive distributor of the popular baby toy giraffe named Sophie, got a deal on Dragons' Den last night.
Bug In a Rug, owned by Jane Wood and located on Harrop Drive in Milton, sought $450,000 for 25 per cent of the company on the popular CBC television show.
Bug in a Rug was founded in 2005 by Wood and is the Canadian distributor for a variety of designer brands from around the world, including Sophie giraffe items.
Born in 1961 in France, Sophie has been sold in Canada to 40 per cent of babies born in the country in the last several years, according to Wood.
She told the “Dragons” (the name of the show’s investors) that she needed the money because when she took control of the company after what she termed on television as “a messy divorce,” she had to buy back 50 per cent of the company, which was about $500,000 at the time.
The former Milton resident, who now calls Carlisle home, told the Dragons that about a week before that deal was to close, she discovered the company owed close to $208,000 in taxes to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
Wood, who said she’s been through two divorces, said it’s hard to make ends meet when she’s paying $3,000/week to the CRA for “a really long time,” and that also makes it difficult to stay current with HST payments.
Michael Wekerle, a dragon described by the network as a rock star in the world of Canadian finance, offered a deal to Wood after learning what she’d need to “clean things up at the company” to be debt free.
He offered her $500,000 for 40 per cent of the company and extended a line of credit of $250,000 at seven per cent so that she could settle all her affairs.
Other Dragons commented that she seemed to have a thriving business that without the debts she has incurred, could be quite successful. Last year, Bug in a Rug did $2.5 million in sales, she told them.
She told the Champion on Thursday that she was thrilled at the chance to be on Dragons' Den, which was filmed last April.
“I want to be on TV every day,” said the newly-married mother of four. “I literally could not come down from that high.
“When you’re that charged, and that nervous and you get through it and everybody there says ‘you did a great job.’”
She said she would love to be on television all the time.
“I want to be a movie star,” she laughed.
Her business has grown 1,600 per cent in a few years and employs five full-time people along with quite a few local residents and students when the company is packing larger orders.
------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------
Detail Link :
http://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/5474648-milton-toy-distribution-company-gets-deal-on-dragons-den/