Kimai lands £250,000 investment from Steven Bartlett in BBC's Dragons' Den

Fine jewellery brand and lab-grown diamond pioneer Kimai has secured a £250,000 investment from entrepreneur Steven Bartlett in the Dragons' Den.

Founded in 2018 by Antwerp-born best friends Jessica Warch and Sidney Neuhaus, Kimai has set out to redefine the fine jewellery sector making it more accessible, ethical and sustainable.

The brand, which has a store on London's Chiltern Street, has pioneered the use of 100% traceable lab-grown diamonds, which are physically, optically and chemically identical to mined diamonds. Fans include the Duchess of Sussex and Jessica Alba and one of the brand's early investors was fashion design legend Diane von Furstenberg.

Kimai's pitch appeared on the popular BBC show last night with the founders receiving interest and offers from Deborah Meaden and Sara Davies, but they opted to go with Bartlett due to his experience in social media and digital market, which they reasoned would support their global e-commerce business, which is growing at a rapid rate of 120% year on year. They will also work on elevating the customer experience at the London store.

Warch and Neuhaus gave up 3% of their company for the £250,000 investment, which is the largest sum Bartlett has invested since he joined the Den in 2022.

Warch (l) and Neuhaus in "the Den"

Bartlett said of the investment: “They are two of the most impressive entrepreneurs I have ever seen in the Den. Rock solid on their numbers, vision and convictions. Kind, humble, smart, tenacious and passionate. Annoyingly, really incredible negotiators – which is annoying as an investor but perfect as business partners, so I’m happy to be in business with them. They are the absolute full house.

"I’m going to support them in any and every way I can – I’ll bring a wealth of knowledge to the business as it relates to marketing, innovation, community growth, scaling and I’m planning to use my vast network of contacts to open doors that will help to accelerate their incredible business even more."

“We know that lab-grown diamonds are the future,” the brand's founders said. “Sharing our story on such a huge platform like Dragons Den was a unique opportunity to help spread the word about this relatively new technology, which allows beautiful diamonds and jewellery to be made, without costing the earth.”

Kimai's jewellery containing lab-grown diamonds

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Bartlett had also invested in luxury fashion resale platform Luxe Collective, who appeared on the show earlier in the series. Bartlett invested £100,000 in that business, also taking a 3% stake.