THE CEO of BrewDog has revealed his plea for investment turned down by Dragons’ Den 13 years ago would now be worth £360 million – the best deal in the programme’s history.

Co-founder James Watt, 38, said “we pitched our hearts out” to the BBC show in 2008 but only got as far as the screen test before he was rejected by producers.

The craft beer company was just two years old at the time, and along with business partner Martin Dickie, he asked for £100,000 for 20% of the business. But he has now revealed a recent valuation of the brew company means the Dragons’ missed investment would now be worth £360m.

Watt said their pitch was rejected because it “was not unique enough, special enough or with enough growth potential to make the grade ... we got over the rejection eventually, but it took a while”.