DHDL: Deal for dog leashes from Little Captain canceled after the show

On the show, the startup's preferred investor, Dagmar Wöhrl, was primarily impressed by its emotional appeal. Find out why the deal fell through here.

Children who want pets are sometimes too young to take on the responsibility. The startup Little Captain wants to make a contribution – with a child-proof dog leash. The first, as the founding duo Christoph Graf and his sister Anja say on the show "Die Höhle der Löwen" (The Lion's Den) .

With a dog leash, both the adult and the child are given a loop to walk the dog. If there's too much tension on the leash, the loop clips off the child, preventing them from being pulled to the ground. This is made possible by magnets. If the child is holding the leash alone, a separate mechanism also releases it if there's too much tension. However, then the dog is no longer on a leash and can escape. Therefore, a safe space is needed for this.

The founder wanted 100,000 euros from the Lions and offered 25.1 percent of Little Captain's shares in return. This would give a Lions investor a say in important decisions.

Since animal welfare is a matter close to the heart of investor Dagmar Wöhrl , she was Graf's preferred investor – and actually made an offer: 100,000 euros for 30 percent of the company's shares. Graf agreed. Wöhrl was convinced by the topic, the founder, and the emotions, but not by the numbers the startup could show. At the time of the recording of the show, the dog leash hadn't yet launched. Wöhrl said on the show: "This won't be a business that will boom immediately," "but now I have someone standing in front of me who is passionate about the cause, and who I feel has delved into a topic."

However, the deal fell through after the broadcast, as Gründerszene learned from Wöhrl's business associates. "Unfortunately, the deal didn't go through. In the end, there were too many different ideas about how to build the company sustainably and strategically. However, we had intensive discussions and were able to give the founders some useful advice."

All the Lions praised the performance of the founding duo and Graf's four-year-old niece, Theresa. They were also impressed by Graf's Australian Shepherd, Captain—hence the startup's name. Wöhrl said the product looked classy, ​​and Maschmeyer praised the craftsmanship. However, apart from Wöhrl, none of the other Lions wanted to invest.

Maschmeyer said Graf had his first customer, but the product wasn't a good fit for him as an investor. Dümmel is invested in another startup that also sells dog leashes and therefore decided against investing. Schulz was particularly critical of the valuation, which he considered too high at €400,000, as the startup hadn't yet generated any revenue at the time the show was recorded. This was one reason why Williams also ruled out investing. She doubted whether there was a suitable market for the product.

According to the founder, an initial batch of 600 leashes is on its way, but the startup hasn't sold anything yet at the time of this recording. The leash is expected to cost €59.90. Wöhrl calls this a "sporty price." The founder believes it's a realistic one to survive in the market. Dümmel countered that most dog leashes sold cost around €24. The Little Captain leash costs €20.07 to produce. The price could be reduced depending on the quantity: 5,000 leashes would cost €16.80, and 10,000 leashes would cost €15.94.

As of today, Little Captain sells its dog leashes through Amazon and its own website. However, the price is different from the one announced during the show: €34.99 for the Tau model, which is suitable for dogs up to 25 kg. Depending on the length of the leash, however, the price increases by two euros. For dogs weighing less, there are other leash models in the online shop that are in a similar price category. Furthermore, the leashes are laboratory-tested, as stated on the website, most recently on April 8th.