A young Scots entrepreneur who spurned the offer of £75,000 funding for his personal shopper app from television's Dragons Den has said he has no regrets about the decision.
Speaking the day after viewers saw him snub the approach from Peter Jones on the popular BBC2 programme, Cally Russell said:
"It was a difficult decision but one we are comfortable with and know that we got right."
Mr Jones said you had to be "ballsy to invest in Mallzee" but offered the full amount Mr Russell wanted.
But Mr Russell said he felt Mr Jones' offer of £75,000 for a 20 per cent stake in Mallzee seriously undervalued a business which is attracting a big following.
Edinburgh-based Mallzee has just agreed a partnership with mobile phone giant Samsung covering the UK and Ireland. This will see Mallzee feature in the Samsung App store and other channels.
The app allows users to highlight the kind of fashions they like with a swipe of a finger on their mobile phones.
The company will be offering Samsung customers exclusive discounts on a range of fashion brands, starting with 20 per cent off Warehouse. It charges a commission on sales made through the app.
Mr Russell, 27, said the publicity generated by the company's appearance on Dragons Den has already provided a dramatic boost to the young business.
"Since it went out last night it's been absolutely mental," said Mr Russell, who founded Mallzee in April 2013.
Mallzee has added tens of thousands of people to its list of registered users since the programme was aired.
The total number of registered users is now "well into six figures" according to Mr Russell.
Mallzee has signed up 100 fashion brands from Topshop to Reiss. These can offer Mallzee's users goods based on the items they approve of on the app.
Mr Russell, from Dunoon, said the experience of appearing on Dragons Den had been nerve-racking but fantastic.
"It was a really intense environment. I see myself as being quite good in public but at the very start I was shaking," he said.
With a degree in politics and international relations from Dundee University, Mr Russell had the idea for Mallzee after getting frustrated shopping for clothes.
"I wanted to create something that would make it really easy for you to shop in one place," he said.
The company developed its own technology after winning early backing from private investors.
Mr Russell said the company made the decision to focus on developing technology that would work well on mobile phones because that's where people under 30 do their shopping.
Mallzee employs ten people.
Since launching in the US in November the company has signed up 30 brands in America.
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