Allen & Overy advises Castore on GBP145 million investment from The Raine Group, Hanaco Ventures and Felix Capital

This funding round was led by The Raine Group, a strategic advisory and growth equity investment firm specialising in sports, media and entertainment. Hanaco Ventures and Felix Capital also participated in the investment through their respective growth funds.

The fundraising will support Castore's efforts to continue to disrupt the premium sportswear market and global team sports landscape. Castore is 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 high-quality merchandise while also providing them with the data and tools to deepen engagement with their fans. In addition, the capital raise 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. Castore will also continue to invest in its people and infrastructure systems, so they are able to support the business’ growth ambitions, enhancing its supply chain and data analytics capabilities.

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, catering to a massive end-market that is highly underserved, unsatisfied and ready for innovation – including those in football, tennis, motorsports, rugby and cricket. The business continues to record strong growth and is on track to achieve record revenues and profits in 2023.

A&O’s team was led by partners Matt Hamilton-Foyn and Matthew Appleton and senior associate Sam Brooks.

Matt Hamilton-Foyn, partner at A&O, said: “We are encouraged that our fast growth clients with a proven track record of profitability, or a clear route to profitability, continue to be able to generate strong interest from the investment community and execute significant equity raises, even in challenging market conditions – and are prepared to go to market now to fund their growth ambitions rather than delaying until the wider market turns. These companies are demonstrating their adaptability, creativity and potential to create value and impact.

"Companies like Castore are the new drivers of economic growth and social change, and we are proud to support them as they take their businesses to the next level."

Phil Beahon, co-founder of Castore, commented: “A&O have been fantastic at supporting us on this fundraising round, in which we've secured the backing of highly reputable equity partners who will add significant value to all aspects of Castore’s business model. The A&O team delivered commercially-minded solutions to complex legal challenges and provided excellent client service and responsiveness throughout.”

This year, in addition to Castore, A&O has advised a number of other fast-growth UK companies looking to raise equity to drive further growth. These include:

• Quantexa, a global leader in decision intelligence solutions
• Zopa Bank, a digital bank, which raised GBP75 million in funding to drive its next phase of growth
• Zenobe Energy, the rapidly growing UK-based energy storage developer, which received investment from KKR’s Infrastructure arm and Infracapital.