Dragons' Den Steven Bartlett's life from quitting uni to staggering net worth

The dragons are returning to their lair - aka the Old Granada Studios in Manchester - as Dragons' Den returns.

Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, and Sara Davies will be back in the BBC One show’s exposed brick studio, starting on Thursday night (January 6).

And they'll be joined by a new face for the 19th series.

Manchester entrepreneur Steven Bartlett has made history by becoming the youngest ever Dragon to appear on the show, at 28 - now 29.

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He is replacing Tej Lalvani following his exit.

Steven is the founder and former CEO of social media marketing agency The Social Chain, which he set up from his bedroom in Manchester.

After dropping out of school and Manchester Metropolitan University at 18, he went on to build The Social Chain and Media Chain, taking his company public aged 27, with a current market valuation of more than £300 million.

He left the business after six years to pursue other investment opportunities.

Steven, who was born in Botswana before moving to Plymouth at two years old, released his debut book - Happy Sexy Millionaire - in March 2021, and also hosts a podcast titled The Diary Of A CEO.

Recent guests on the podcast have included Molly-Mae Hague, Gym Shark founder Ben Francis, comedian Jimmy Carr, and presenter and radio DJ Reggie Yates and last year it ranked as Europe's most downloaded business podcast.

Steven is believed to have a staggering net worth of over £50m.

But it wasn't always like this.

Appearing on This Morning in November last year, Steven recalled being 10-years-old to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, saying; "My dad was working in London five days a week, four hours away. My mum couldn’t read or write so she was literally at one point sleeping in her shop."

He added: "We had no money so Christmasses and birthdays we didn’t have money to celebrate them.

"So, I would wake up and my lunch money would come from something I would sell. By the age of 14 I started running the school trips. I did a deal with a vending machine company to put vending machines in the school."

This showed his business prowess at the age of just 14.

Explaining the run of events leading him to where he is now, Steven said: "I quit school, quit university after one lecture, started a company and did it for three years then quit out of the blue.

"[I] quit my last company which is generating £600m in revenue. Because I knew within me that I had overstayed my welcome."

Away from the business world, Steven keeps his life private.

He has previously mentioned a relationship with a former girlfriend but his relationship status now is kept very much under wraps.

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