Castore raises an extra £145 million of investment cash
Castore had big news late on Wednesday with the premium performance sportswear brand announcing it has secured a “significant growth investment” in a funding round led by Raine Partners, The Raine Group’s flagship growth equity fund.
And “significant” in this case means a chunky £145 million injection into the business.
The money will “support Castore’s efforts to continue to disrupt the premium sportswear market and global team sports landscape”.
The company said it’s “customer-obsessed and this will allow it to continue to win new relationships with leading sports franchises across the world, supplying its partners with a full range of merchandise while also providing them with the data and tools to deepen engagement with their fans”.
And the investment will also help it further develop “the breadth and reach of its mainline product range as the company continues on a path to become the UK’s leading sports and athleisure brand”. Plus it will spend on its people and infrastructure systems.
The Raine Group is a major global strategic advisory and investment firm specialising in media, entertainment and sports. It was joined by Hanaco Ventures and Felix Capital, which also participated in the investment through their respective growth funds.
It can be easy to forget sometimes that Castore is only seven years old, so explosive has its growth been. Founded by brothers Tom and Phil Beahon, its trajectory has been undeniably impressive and as well as its ‘regular’ product and stores expansion, its expansion has seen it winning kit contracts with a vast range of sports teams and leagues. It has partnered with 50 franchises globally and the sports it covers include football, tennis, motorsports, rugby and cricket. Barely a month goes by without news of a fresh sports link-up.
In a prepared statement, the Beahon brothers said: “We are delighted to have secured the backing of highly reputable equity partners that will add significant value to all aspects of Castore’s business model – our team relationships, our sportswear brand and our omnichannel retail operations. We are confident these are the right investors to take us to the next stage of our growth, who share our passion for high quality sports apparel, and, in addition to capital, will bring expertise and access to new markets.”
And they added: “This investment will give us the financial firepower to invest in our supply chain and enhance our data analytics capabilities. There is huge demand out there for Castore and this will enable us to … take on the established players in the global sports apparel market.”
Raine Group partner Jason Schretter described Castore as an “insurgent sportswear brand that sits at the intersection of sports, premium brands, data analytics and e-commerce”. And he said the investors’ “deep expertise across these industries helped us immediately understand the impact Castore can have on its clients. Sports teams and leagues are among the most cherished brands in the world. They deserve comprehensive and bespoke solutions to help them better connect, engage and monetise their global fan bases. [Its] differentiated combination … is the answer sports franchises need to unlock this massive opportunity”.
