Castore secures £145m investment to “continue to disrupt sportswear market”

Premium British sportswear brand Castore has secured new £145 million investment via a funding round led by Raine Partners, The Raine Group’s flagship growth equity fund, along with Hanaco Ventures and Felix Capital.

The £145 million investment round will support Castore’s efforts to “continue to disrupt the premium sportswear market and global team sports landscape”.

It will allow Castore to continue to win new relationships with leading sports franchises across the world, supplying its partners with a full range of high quality merchandise while providing them with the data and tools to deepen engagement with their fans.

In addition, the capital raised will enable Castore to 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”.

Founded in Liverpool in 2016 by brothers, Tom and Phil Beahon, Castore’s business model combines a premium performance apparel brand with a vertically integrated digital commerce platform and supply chain to deliver a comprehensive service offering to top sports teams and leagues. To date, Castore has partnered with 50 franchises globally across football, rugby, cricket, tennis and motorsports.

The business continues to record strong growth and is “on track to achieve record revenues and profits in 2023”.

Tom Beahon 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 omni-channel 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.

“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 continue to deliver great products, service and choice to our sports industry partners and consumers, and to take on the established players in the global sports apparel market. We are very proud of the progress made, but we – and the full Castore team - are just getting started!”

The Raine Group is a global strategic advisory and investment firm specialised in media, entertainment and sports.

Jason Schretter, Partner of The Raine Group, said: “Castore is an insurgent sportswear brand that sits at the intersection of sports, premium brands, data analytics and e-commerce. Raine and our fellow co-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.

“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.”

Castore’s Team Sports platform manages the full omni-channel retailing (online, offline, event-based) operations for selected partners including football clubs Glasgow Rangers, Newcastle United, Bayern Leverkusen, Feyenoord, Sevilla FC, Athletic Club (Bilbao), Republic of Ireland Football, Saracens Rugby, England Cricket Board and McLaren F1; Oracle Red Bull Racing.