Inventor success!

Inventor who rejected Dragon's Den offer of £200,000 sells five million luminous balloons

An entrepreneur who rejected a £200,000 Dragon’s Den offer for a stake in his company has sold more than five million luminous balloons in less than a year.

James Halliburton, 29, had dragons Peter Jones, Theo Paphitis and James Caan battling to invest in his firm, Seatriever International, when he appeared on the BBC show two years ago.

The tycoons were impressed with his Waterbuoy gadget, which uses a glowing balloon to keep keys afloat when they fall in the water.

Entrepreneur: James Halliburton has sold five million Illoom Balloons in less than a year. He rejected a £200,000 Dragon's Den offer for a stake in his company

Mr Halliburton, who initially accepted their offer but later changed his mind in favour of going it alone, has now sold five million glowing balloons in under 12 months.

The Illoom Balloon is simply a reinforced balloon fitted with a tiny LED light inside which glows brightly when it is inflated. It is proving to be a Halloween hit after a special orange version was designed to look like a glowing pumpkin.

The balloons sell for £3.50 for a pack of five; the current limited edition Halloween balloons can be picked up in Tesco and Sainsbury's for £3 per pack of five.

Mr Halliburton, from Crewe, Cheshire, said: 'If you had asked me when we started if we would have sold five million so quickly then I would never have believed it.

'This year the interest in the limited edition Halloween Illooms - pumpkin, witch and ghost designs - has been incredible. We have nearly sold out and we're still weeks away from Halloween.

'I took a gamble at first by not going with the dragons' cash but it has really paid off for me now.'

Limited edition: The Halloween Illoom Balloon is flying off the shelves at a cost of £3 per pack of five, 50p less than a standard five pack costs

Mr Halliburton came up with the idea for the Illoom Balloon when he was testing the Waterbuoy.

As he carried out the tests on the gadget at home he was watched by his next door neighbours, James and Alex Firth, aged six and three respectively. The boys eyes 'lit up' at the sight of the glowing balloon.

Mr Halliburton said: 'Over 64billion balloons are sold worldwide each year so it's clearly a very lucrative market to get into.

'We are discovering that we have barely even scratched the surface.

'When I saw how excited James and Alex were about an illuminated balloon I just knew there was an opportunity to tap into that with an innovative new product.

'It left me in no doubt that I could do it on my own, safe in the knowledge that I had an even bigger project in the pipeline.'

Turned down: Mr Halliburton intially accepted then turned down a £200,000 offer from Dragon's Den stars James Caan (left), Peter Jones (centre), and Theo Paphitis (second from right) for a 25 per cent stake in his company

Originally the Illooms were available only in Tesco stores - but now they can be found in branches of Sainsbury's, Booths, Morrisons and Spar as well as online retailers.
They will be launched in America next year.

The Dragon's Den stars were desperate to invest in Mr Halliburton's company when he appeared on the hit BBC show in November 2007.

He eventually plumped for a joint offer from Mr Jones and Mr Paphitis for a 25 per cent share of his company, Seatriever International, before changing his mind.

The Waterbuoy proved so popular that earlier this year Mr Halliburton signed a deal with the world's biggest marine retailer, West Marine, to stock the gadget. British company Blacks Leisure Group, which owns Blacks and Milletts camping stores, also signed up to sell the device.