The founders of a new pay-as-you-train fitness booking platform met on a degree apprenticeship – and say it provided them with a springboard for success.
SPORTL, based in London, aims to help anyone access gym classes in real-time via an app and recently raised £250,000 in pre-seed investment.
It launched in London this month and will look to expand across other major UK cities in the next 12 months.
Matthew Austin and Ryan Lovelock say the Bank of England scheme was “hugely beneficial”.
“At the time it wasn’t necessarily the typical route, as many people encouraged us to take the traditional path of going straight to university,” they told BusinessCloud.
“However, the apprenticeship gave us the best of both worlds. We graduated with degrees while also gaining real, hands-on experience inside one of the world’s most respected financial institutions.
“Being surrounded by incredibly knowledgeable colleagues meant we had to mature quickly and develop a strong work ethic from an early stage in our careers.
“We quickly became close friends. Over time we moved into slightly different roles across finance and business, but we always shared an ambition to start a company together one day.
“While working in corporate roles, we travelled frequently and found traditional gym memberships to be quite rigid and poor value if you weren’t consistently in one location. At the same time, it was surprisingly difficult to access quality gyms and studios flexibly without committing to a subscription.
“That frustration sparked the idea for SPORTL. We started speaking with gym owners after work, explaining the concept and getting feedback, and quickly realised there was a clear gap in the market for a more flexible approach to fitness access.”
The recent investment round saw participation from notable strategic partners and investors, including Kevin Hewitt, former EMEA chairman of FTI Consulting, who will also join as chairman of the board.
Other investors include James Hardy, former Deliveroo executive and co-founder of Bioniq, the personalised supplements company, and recruitment entrepreneur Jamie Hearne.
The founders both hail from grammar school backgrounds and said they have always been heavily involved in sport.
Matt grew up playing competitive cricket and represented Northern Victoria in Australia, while Ryan played golf to a high level and has since moved into bodybuilding and functional fitness.
“Although our sporting interests were different, we both experienced first-hand the positive impact sport and fitness communities can have,” they said.
“When we later moved into corporate roles in the City, we found it surprisingly difficult to maintain that same connection to fitness, especially when trying to squeeze in workouts around long workdays.
“That feeling that something was missing ultimately became one of the driving reasons we went on to build SPORTL.”
Ex-footballers launch platform to prepare athletes for life after sport
Despite building a fitness platform, neither Matt nor Ryan are particularly good at sitting still.
“Outside of work we’re usually training for something; whether that’s HYROX competitions, long-distance running, or just the next challenge we’ve set ourselves.
“We are actually both running the London Marathon this year. It will be our first time taking part, so we’re excited, although we’re sure it will be painful in equal measure.
“Luckily, our weekly SPORTL run club has become a great way to keep the training consistent. We’re both running in support of two fantastic charities: the MS Society and Hospice UK.”
SPORTL’s revenue comes from a small commission on each booking made through the platform.
It currently has a team of five – the two founders alongside two full-time team members and an intern. Lucy Gray, a well-known fitness influencer, recently joined as marketing manager, while business development and partnerships manager Sean Sevant previously worked with David Lloyd and has deep experience working with gyms and studios.
“As the platform grows, we also expect to raise further investment to support expansion and continue improving the product,” said the founders.
“Our wider ambition is to make flexible fitness access the norm rather than the exception.”