27. Syncbox

Founders: Steve Noyes and Duncan Summers
Founded: 2015
Website: www.sync-box.com

The world’s only universally adaptable, invisible wiring system, Syncbox is the developer of a hidden socket that merges power and AV connections all into one unit.

Founded by Steve Noyes – who previously owned an AV installation company – the product was originally conceived as a solution for cinema rooms and television installations.

While flat screen TVs were getting thinner, Noyes found it was still impossible to have them sit flush to the wall – unless perhaps there was some kind of recessed socket….

Noyes and co-founder Duncan Summers sketched out a design on the back of an envelope and quickly found a patent attorney to check they were designing a unique product.

After enlisting a designer to bring “the invention to life”, the Syncbox was launched in 2015.

Syncbox then got its big break after appearing on Dragons’ Den in the same year where it managed to snag £55,000 for 35% equity from Deborah Meaden. The duo credit this appearance with being their “shop window to the world” and enabling them to develop new products.

Come 2018, and Syncbox now sells 3,000 units in a year with “literally no competition” – at least in the UK and Europe, where it has five Design Protections in place.

Its units are now available through more than 1,000 locations in the UK, and retail in over 14 countries.

The start-up says the key to its recent success has been in presenting its ‘Value Engineering’ report to big name companies such as WSP, Centre Parcs, Gansevoort Hotels, Crest Nicholson, Best Western Hotels, and Crown Plaza. The findings from this report detail the time and cost savings of installing its products.

Over the next three years, Noyes and Summer hope to have grown the business by more than £20m and be trading in 50 countries. As a unique idea with backing from high-profile brands and the support of a Dragon, we’ll be watching closely.