{"id":235953,"date":"2025-10-31T13:16:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/235953\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T13:16:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:16:19","slug":"wheelchair-user-wins-full-house-of-backers-on-dragons-den","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/235953\/","title":{"rendered":"Wheelchair user wins full house of backers on Dragons’ Den"},"content":{"rendered":"

Investment<\/a><\/p>\n

Accessibility innovator Simon Sansome made his mark on Dragons\u2019 Den after winning investment from all five Dragons for his mobile app Snowball \u2013 dubbed \u2018the TripAdvisor for the disabled community\u2019.<\/p>\n

The final episode of series 22 saw Sansome deliver one of the standout pitches of the 10-month-long season, securing a rare full-house offer from Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Sara Davies, Steven Bartlett and Touker Suleyman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The deal saw \u00a380,000 invested collectively, with each Dragon taking a 5% stake for \u00a316,000.<\/p>\n

Wheelchair user Sansome, from Leicestershire, founded the business following a life-changing spinal injury in 2014, which left him paralysed from the waist down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His experience navigating accessibility challenges inspired the app, which helps people with visible and hidden disabilities discover and review inclusive locations across the UK- from petrol stations and restaurants to health and hospitality venues.<\/p>\n

He first tested the concept through a Facebook page, Ability Access (now the Snowball Community), which grew into one of the world\u2019s largest disability awareness platforms with more than 30 million monthly views.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The community\u2019s success led him to develop the award-winning Snowball app, now available on iOS and Android.<\/p>\n

Who are new Dragons set for Den in 2026?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I received a clean sweep of all five Dragons, I was in shock,\u201d said Sansome.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter eight years of hard work, it\u2019s fair to say this was a very emotional moment for me. The atmosphere in the studio was electric.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I shared my story and the journey behind Snowball, I could see the panel becoming more and more engaged.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have all five of them eager to be part of the business was surreal \u2013 it\u2019s every entrepreneur\u2019s dream, and I\u2019ll never forget that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steven Bartlett: \u2018I\u2019m less than 1% into my journey\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Snowball platform now includes over 100,000 user reviews, a built-in satnav for navigating accessible routes, and a national disability rating system \u2013 similar to a food hygiene score \u2013 which assesses businesses on their accessibility for visible and non-visible disabilities, including neurodivergence, dementia and dyslexia.<\/p>\n

The app has also partnered with Transport for London to provide real-time step-free travel data, as well as with the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower initiative to help users locate Sunflower-friendly venues that support those with invisible conditions.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s mission to make accessibility accessible has earned international recognition, ranking 9th in the Power 100 list and winning 12 awards across regional, national and global stages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Supported by Paralympians Hannah Cockroft and Aaron Phipps, the business is quickly making a name for itself and promoting inclusion in both technology and society.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just an app,\u201d Sansome continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a movement designed to change how we think about accessibility \u2013 empowering people with disabilities to explore the world with confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Volt CEO discharged from hospital after near-fatal crash<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Investment Accessibility innovator Simon Sansome made his mark on Dragons\u2019 Den after winning investment from all five Dragons…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[52215,96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-235953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-businesscloud","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}