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Steven Bartlett’s eye-watering fortune has been revealed as he bagged a huge new investment – which has made him one of richest moguls to ever grace Dragons’ Den.
The 33-year-old, best known for being an entrepreneur and podcaster, joined the BBC show back in 2022.
Over the past three years Steven has been a Dragon alongside Sara Davies, Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones and Touker Suleyman – in a career dogged by controversy.
Early in her career he co-founded social media marketing company Social Chain, which was accused of plagiarising social media posts.
Bartlett was also accused of overstating the firm’s worth, claiming he took it public at a value of $600million when it had in fact merged with a German firm for less than a third of the value – and he ultimately sold his stake for £7.7million.
Since then, Bartlett has founded media firm Flight Story – which produces his Diary of a CEO podcast, itself the topic of controversy – and online shopping platform Stan Store, a rival for firms such as Shopify.
This week, Bartlett said in a press release that the holding company for his ventures, Steven.com, has been valued at $425million (£320million).
It comes after the firm received an eight-figure investment from venture capital firms Slow Ventures and Apeiron Investment.
This will, the businessman claims, help him ‘build the Disney of the creator economy’ – the multibillion-pound industry of influencers who make a living out of streaming and posting to TikTok, Instagram, Twitch and YouTube.
He posted the announcement alongside a photograph of himself with Prince William at an event in 2023. The Prince of Wales has nothing to do with the announcement.
Despite investors pouring an unspecified ‘eight-figure’ sum into the company, Bartlett still retains more than 90 per cent of its ownership.
In a statement in which he appeared to compare himself to Walt Disney, Bartlett said: ‘For the last century, companies like Disney – from its starting point with Walt Disney himself – has demonstrated the power of a single piece of intellectual property.
‘He and his successors built a global empire by taking a character like Mickey Mouse and building a universe around him: films, theme parks, merchandise and more.
‘But in our world… (social media creators are) the new franchise. With my team, I think we are building the modern version of this model.’
Bartlett claims the funding constitutes the biggest investment made in a firm specialising in social media creators in Europe.
The press release stated that this deal will ‘accelerate Bartlett’s mission to empower creator media companies and creator ventures to scale globally and develop world-class creator IP and creator commerce eco-systems’.
Steven’s other companies FlightStory, FlightCast and FlightFund will also be involved.
As well as being a successful businessman, Steven also created his own podcast The Diary of a CEO.
The popular podcast began in 2017.
He has interviewed the likes of Simon Cowell, Boris Johnson and Richard Branson.
This year it won Best International Podcast award at the iHeart Radio podcast awards.
Steven was also listed in the Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2020.
Many have loved the star being on Dragons’ Den since he joined for the 19th series in 2022.
Ahead of joining the programme, Steven said: ‘I’ve been watching Dragons’ Den since I was 12 years old – it was my first window into the real world of business and investing.
‘It’s a tremendous honour to join the Den, hopefully representing a new generation of entrepreneurs, inspiring young and specifically under-represented entrepreneurs to follow in my footsteps.’
The Beeb’s commissioning editor for entertainment, Sarah Clay, added: ‘As well as being our youngest ever Dragon, Steven’s unique approach to business will bring a whole new dynamic to the Den.
‘He brings a wealth of experience from the social media, technological and brand building worlds.
‘I’m so excited to see him in the next series.’
