UK start-up Kitt Medical secures investment on BBC’s Dragons’ Den from Deborah Meaden and Steven Bartlett
Kitt Medical’s founders, Zak Marks and James Cohen, stepped into the Dragon’s Den looking for investment for their emergency Anaphylaxis Kitt service. They walked away with a total of £75,000 from a split combination of Steven Bartlett & Deborah Meaden.
Co-Founders of Kitt Medical enter the Den (James Cohen on the left, Zak Marks on the right)
Kitt Medical’s services include a wall-mounted kit that contains a maximum of four adrenaline pens, (x2 of each dose), suitable for different age/weight groups to be used in emergencies, when for example, an allergy sufferer has forgotten their prescribed adrenaline pen or when they do not own one because they are unaware of an allergy. The service also includes online training, which has been completed more than 15,000 times.
Zak, 27, and James, 28, impressed Deborah Meaden and Steven Bartlett especially, who were drawn to the young founder’s passion for the life-saving capabilities of adrenaline pens to improve outcomes of sudden life-threatening allergic reactions and education around anaphylaxis.
Zak was inspired to start the company and develop the service as he lives with a severe nut allergy himself, which he discovered at the age of 5 after having traces of peanut butter on toast.
After seeing too many ‘avoidable’ deaths on the news caused by allergic reactions, Zak decided to try and tackle the problem he faced every day.
As the number of people with allergies and hospital admissions for sufferers rises across the UK, Kitt Medical has dispatched its Anaphylaxis Kitt service at more than 600 sites across the UK since its launch in February 2023. This includes schools, private businesses and hospitality/entertainment venues. Staff across Alton Towers Resort, Autotrader, Westmorland Family and law firm Michelmores LLP, can access these Kitts given that there is an occupational health scheme in place.
Nearly one thousand Anaphylaxis Kitts are installed across schools and qualifying businesses in the UK, accessible by trained staff for use in emergencies.
The positive response from the Dragons continued, as Steven noted how the young founders have a clear impact-driven approach to tackling the important issue of allergies being on the rise, whilst Deborah congratulated the pair on being sustainably minded as the Kitt Medical sets are made from recycled plastic in the UK.
To date, Kitt Medical sets have been used in ten cases, aiding to prevent fatal situations including multiple situations where people had unknown allergies and didn’t have their own adrenaline pen, such as teacher Elaine Fraser, 53, at York House School who in September 2024 had no known allergies and survived a sudden life-threatening allergic reaction after using an adrenaline pen from Kitt Medical.
Kitt Medical’s Anaphylaxis Kitts have been used a total of ten times (in just two years) to treat life-threatening allergic reactions.
Zak comments: “Throughout my life, my allergies have often been misunderstood, stigmatised, and even joked about, but anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction, can cause serious harm or even death. Our mission is to make anaphylaxis treatment accessible to anyone who needs it. It’s highly important to have generic adrenaline medication readily available for emergencies, as anaphylaxis can strike anyone, even those without known allergies.”
Kitt Medical’s start-up story went viral on Tik-Tok with over 5 million views as what started off with Zak studying Industrial Design at Loughborough University and Kitt Medical being a university project, has now been featured in the press across the BBC, The Times, Good Morning Britain and The Independent with cases of their adrenaline pens being used in life-threatening situations.
They have also received recognition for their work, winning various awards, including London’s Mayors Entrepreneur, Santander X and The Conduit Young Innovator.
Watch Zak and James enter the Dragon’s Den present to the business panel on BBC iPlayer.
The Kitt Medical team includes Zak Marks, James Cohen, Jonathan Byre and Olivia Sutton, as well as Simon Hanassab and Laura Siggers (not pictured).
About Kitt Medical:
Kitt Medical was launched in February 2023 by Zak Marks and James Cohen. Zak, who was diagnosed with a severe allergy to all nuts as a child, carries his own adrenaline pens.
Kitt Medical is a multi-award-winning company, having received the London Mayor’s Entrepreneur Award, Santander X Launch Award, and Conduit Young Innovators award.
Since its launch, Kitt Medical has been installed at over 500 schools across the UK. Online
CPD-accredited allergy training on how to use the equipment has been delivered more than 15,000 times, and the service has now reached hundreds of thousands of students.
Kitt launched its service for qualifying businesses with occupational health in 2024, with their first venue being Alton Towers Resort, they have gone on to support over 80 sites.
The Anaphylaxis Kitt service includes a subscription supply of adrenaline pens, a wall mounted kit, online CPD training, and incident reporting.
Allergy Statistics:
Today, 44% of British adults suffer from at least one allergy – with numbers expected to rise.
In the 20 years leading to 2012, there was a 615% increase in the rate of hospital admissions for anaphylaxis in the UK.
In the UK, it is estimated that the prevalence of food allergy is around 7% in breastfed infants, with 1 in 40 developing a peanut allergy and 1 in 20 developing egg allergy.
50% of the entire EU population is expected to be affected by allergies by 2025. Today, more than 150 million Europeans suffer from chronic allergic diseases – 20% of the population of the most developed countries, including the UK.
https://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk- A brighter future for people with serious allergies
https://www.allergyuk.org – Supporting people living with allergy
