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Tech

County Durham firm braves Dragons' Den in bid to secure investment

The couple who co-founded the AI video editing will enter the den on this week's show

Choppity co-founders Aaron Morris and Zara Paul on Dragons' Den(Image: Choppity/BBC)

A County Durham couple will become the latest regional business to brave the Dragons’ Den this week.

Zara Paul and Aaron Morris are the founders of Choppity, a Belmont Business Park company behind a web-based AI video editing platform which is set to appear on the new series of the BBC pitching programme on Thursday in a bid to secure investment for their start-up.

The co-founders and married couple only launched Choppity in 2023 with a vision to simplify the video-editing process for podcasters and businesses. The platform, which was founded in Durham, is already used in production by companies including ITN, Autotrader, Turtle Bay, and Sonatype, with features including AI subtitles, in which Choppity instantly adds subtitles to podcast clips, and Magic Reframe, which instantly turns a landscape podcast into a portrait or square one to make sure every speaker’s face can be seen.

Before taking on the Dragons, the pair said their number one target for investment was entrepreneur and host of one of the world’s most listened-to podcasts, Diary of a CEO, Steven Bartlett. Zara proudly represents the LGBTQ+ community as an openly non-binary contestant, and said the experience was “important and deeply personal”.

Zara said: “It was an unforgettable moment to be in that room, presenting something we’ve worked so hard on. The setup felt incredibly stripped back - just the two of us and a screen in front of the five established entrepreneurs. It was both nerve-wracking and exhilarating.

“The startup world, and the media more broadly, often feel bare of LGBTQ+ representation, especially for gender non-conforming and trans founders. I hope this moment inspires others to pursue their ambitions and know they belong here too.”

In a LinkedIn post the firm said: “After months of secrecy, we’re so excited to finally reveal the news. Watch the episode this Thursday 16th January, 8pm on BBC 1 to find out what the Dragons thought of Choppity. For those that have been following our company’s journey for a while, I hope you have fun watching this episode!

“We’re extremely grateful for the opportunity to showcase Choppity on a national stage. To all of our users, customers and supporters, thank you for helping us get here.”