An ex-rugby international's wellness brand is ready for expansion after raising more than £1.3m in just five hours through a crowdfunding campaign.
Puresport secured backing via Seedrs from more than 300 investors, including Scotland Rugby internationals Jonny Gray, Greig Laidlaw and Finn Russell, who have invested a combined total of more than £80,000.
The investment will allow the £12m-valued business to press ahead with plans to expand into the US and Australian e-commerce markets in the coming months, having launched in New Zealand - the native country of founder and ex-rugby professional Grayson Hart - earlier this week.
Puresport has also launched a two-day pop-up store on London’s Oxford Street, with plans to increase its focus on the mainstream UK retail market, just a few months after it became one of the first CBD producers to gain approval for legal sale in the country.
As well as growth of the brand, the funds will also be invested in product innovation. In the past 12 months, Puresport has expanded its remit beyond CBD to other natural wellness products, including mushrooms.
Hart explained: “What began as a means of providing a safe and natural pain management alternative has mushroomed into a holistic wellness movement that is now established in mainstream markets and we’re in the perfect position to feed that appetite.
“It’s no secret that we want to be sold in major stores like Selfridges and Harrods, and this investment will help us on our road to achieving it.
“If you’d told me in 2018 when this all started that we’d be in a position to raise more than £1m in under a day just four years later I’d have laughed at you, but the people involved and the progress we’ve made since has filled me with the belief Puresport can become as big as we want it to.”
Puresport was initially a side hustle for the former scrum-half - who represented New Zealand U20s, Scotland in 7s and full internationals, and the Barbarians during a successful professional rugby career - but is now a full focus in retirement for the athlete who also had stints at the Glasgow Warriors, Edinburgh Rugby and London Scottish.
The wellness entrepreneur looked to natural products after realising the negative effects of relying on opioid-based painkillers to cope with the rigours of professional rugby.
The firm began as a producer of Cannabidiol (CBD) pain relief for drug-tested athletes, and has since expanded into new markets, selling more than 100,000 products across a range catering for wellness needs including sleep, stress and fitness.
The business recently passed £3.5m in online sales since launch in 2018, turning over £2m before tax in 2021; a figure Hart states it is on course to grow to £2.8m this year.
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