North West sportswear brand, Castore, has confirmed “one of the largest growth capital investments in the world in 2023.”
It has completed a £150m raise, through The Raine Group, Felix Capital and Hanaco Ventures, valuing the company at almost £1bn (£950m).
“We are immensely proud to achieve this milestone which represents a huge endorsement of our business model and strategy and this would not have been possible without the passion, commitment and hard work of all our amazing staff who we massively appreciate,” said co-founder Thomas Beahon.
Beahon set up the company with his brother, Phil, in 2016. Backed by initially by their parents remortgaging their home. One of the first big names to come on board was Sir Andy Murray, Castore has since gone on to sign the likes of Red Bull Racing in F1, England cricket and Premier League teams – Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Wolves.
The new investment will, according to Beahon, “take Castore through the next stage of growth and become a truly global brand.”
“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; but the bigger aspect is the personal side – a story of passion, work ethic, big dreams and most importantly – never, ever giving up,” continued Meahon.
“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.”
In an interview with the FT this morning, Beahon added that they hadn’t ruled out taking the company public, “we do think that for now having private shareholders gives us . . . the ability to think longer-term, which is really important, rather than in quarterly increments.”
The company has previously received backing from the Issa brothers, New Look’s founder, Tom Singh, PureGym co-founders Peter Roberts and Brian Scurrah and Eric Fellner, the co-chairs of Working Title Film.
Based in Manchester, it revealed in October that it had almost doubled its sales last year to £115m, increasing its headcount to 399.
