With such a high volume of launches in the Contracts for Difference (CFD) market, some may dismiss the launch of H20 Markets by BBC Dragons’ Den celebrity Richard Farleigh as pure bandwagon jumping.

But with customer-focused strategies on marketing, investor retention, education and staff remuneration, Farleigh says competition in the market is really about to hot up.

Since the beginning of this year, the day-trading market has been buzzing with news of an area of derivatives that retail investors had been exceptionally skeptical of until recently.

CFDs were branded as nothing more than gambling by some, and launches from Paddy Power, Ladbrokes and Betfair have done little to detach the link.

However, increasing transparency from fund managers about their use of CFDs within portfolios has captured the attention of investors and many are trying their hands for the first time.

As a serial entrepreneur and business guru, Richard Farleigh spotted an opportunity when the former head of FX at Fairfax Investment Bank and a financial PR whizz pitched to launch the company.

Farleigh explains, ‘One thing I like about the industry, is that if the product is good enough, it will grow.

‘Yes, there have been some high growth businesses in the sector, but I don’t worry too much about that. I would rather have a good business half the size than a crappy business that is twice the size.’

As an ex-Hedge Fund manager himself, Farleigh knows a think or two about investment strategies and this, he believes, will attract customers as H20 hopes to teach retail investors some of the tips of the trade from the institutional markets.

He says, ‘A lot of people are interested in the markets and there is quite a bit of dissatisfaction with some funds at the moment, people are paying fees and not seeing any performance.

‘Say people have £250,000 portfolio, they might want to take 10 per cent of that and self-manage it. A lot of the concepts are not rocket science. What I want to do is take those concepts and get them out to households.

‘I want to bring some of the techniques to the public. I spend most of my time working on trading models and research as well as the costs of the business.

‘A lot of new market entrants to CFDs are looking for churn and burn but I am more interested in attracting and educating investors.’

The celebrity 'Dragon' believes this educational strategy coupled with staff remuneration based on salary and not bonuses will lead to sustainable growth in profits and investor registrations.

He explains, ‘Hopefully, people will see a difference in quality. We hope to pinch some of the clients from those that are not a reputable as they should be. There is definitely a market for a higher quality service.’

The exact measure of success, of course, will be level of customer interest that H20 can command in an increasingly crowded market.

But with, an educated management team looking after things day-to-day, Farleigh is unlikely to say 'I'm out' anytime soon.