Today tech-enabled sportswear brand Castore is on the brink of a £1bn valuation.
Fresh from raising a £150m investment, the Manchester-based firm is rapidly becoming the poster boy of British business.
Sporting teams are queuing up to work with them, with the likes of McLaren F1, England Cricket Board and Bayer Leverkusen among their growing list of impressive partners.
Hardly surprising then that investors want a piece of the action with The Raine Group, Hanaco Ventures and Felix Capital taking part in the latest investment round.
However, it wasn’t always like that, as co-founder Thomas Beahon remembers well.
He started the business with his brother Philip in 2016 but the world didn’t share the siblings’ excitement for their business idea.
Both talented sportsmen in their own right – Thomas at football and Philip at cricket – the pair had an idea to launch a sportswear business.
While Philip cut his teeth at Deloitte, his older brother worked for Lloyds Banking Group before they gave up their jobs to launch Castore in their 20s.
Thomas recalled: “When my brother and I co-founded the business in 2016, nobody thought we had any chance of being successful – banks, investors, advisors and everyone else we spoke to rejected our idea as crazy.”
Thankfully their parents believed in them when others didn’t.
“Our Mum and Dad told us they believed in us and would remortgage their home to give us the money to get Castore off the ground – an amazing gesture and show of faith only a parent can have,” he said.
“Equally, knowing if you fail you won’t just be failing for yourself, you will have a significant impact on your parents’ lives, puts a level of fear and anxiety in your stomach that few people will understand. We didn’t just want Castore to be successful, we needed it to be.”
Technology is at the heart of Castore’s success but Thomas said the key ingredient is never giving up.
“There is a business side to our story – seeing a gap in the global sports market and using technology and data to create a superior model to the existing brands who had dominated the sector for a generation,” he said.
“But the bigger aspect is the personal side – a story of passion, work ethic, big dreams and most importantly – never, ever giving up.
“People rarely talk about the difficult times but they are far more important than the good moments and how we respond to adversity is how we all become who we are.
“Our vision when we founded Castore was to create a proudly British brand competing on the global stage and we won’t stop until we get there. The mission continues.”
Castore has forged a reputation as a leading premium performance sportswear brand and technology-enabled, end-to-end digital platform for global sports teams.
Castore’s Team Sports platform manages the full omni-channel retailing (online, offline, event-based) operations for selected partners and has a proven approach for growing revenues through product quality, supply chain innovation and fan engagement.
Team Sports partners include McLaren F1; Oracle Red Bull Racing; England Cricket Board, Glasgow Rangers, Bayer Leverkusen, Feyenoord, Sevilla FC, Athletic Club (Bilbao), Saracens Rugby and Republic of Ireland Football.
Jason Schretter, partner of The Raine Group, said: “Castore’s differentiated combination of high-quality merchandise and data-driven technology solutions is the answer sports franchises need to unlock this massive opportunity. We look forward to working with Tom, Phil and the entire Castore team to extend their connectivity to the world of sports.”
Hanaco is a New York and Tel Aviv based multi-stage investment firm that seeks to invest in the world’s best entrepreneurs building technology-enabled category leading businesses across the US, Europe and Israel.
Felix Capital is a London-based venture capital firm, operating at the intersection of technology and creativity. Previous investments have included Farfetch, an online marketplace for the fashion and luxury and Mirakl, a Saas platform for marketplaces.