Dragon Linney backs clubbing holiday startup

Outsourcery boss kicks off new Dragons' Den series with £100,000 splurge

Outsourcery boss Piers Linney has kicked off the new series of Dragons' Den by investing £100,000 in a firm specialising in clubbing holidays for youngsters.

Manchester-based Mainstage Travel launched in 2011 and within two years its founders Rob Tominey, 24, and Aden Levin, 25, have grown the firm's profits to £257,000 on turnover of £1.4m.

The business provides discount package holidays to destinations such as Magaluf, Malia, Ayia Napa and Zante, and plans to branch out to Ibiza next year.

The company received a cash injection of £100,000 from Linney - who is one of the newest Dragons on the BBC show - in exchange for 15 per cent equity. In his first series, Linney invested £60,000 for a stake in a cellulite-busting fake tan brand along with fellow newbie Dragon Kelly Hoppen, an interior design expert.

With Linney's cash, Mainstage hopes to expand the length it can operate in various destinations and launch new skiing package holidays.

Linney said Mainstage was set for great things.

"What Aden and Rob have achieved in such a short space of time is phenomenal," he said.

"The combination of their market knowledge and entrepreneurial flair has resulted in them reinventing the youth travel market, creating holidays that are genuinely exciting and at a cost way below anything else on the market.

"This concept has huge mass market appeal and long-term growth potential."