Sporta, a newly formed FinTech business aiming to become the UK’s first bank built specifically for sport, leisure and wellbeing, has closed a Crowdcube raise of £122,923 as part of its second seed round.

Sporta is led by Andrew Smith, founder of ClearBank, alongside a senior team spanning both FinTech and elite sport – including Victoria Gosling OBE, former CEO and current chair of the Invictus Games.

Their central thesis is that sport’s financial model – from grassroots to elite – is increasingly unsustainable, and that regulation is accelerating faster than clubs’ ability to cope. Nearly half of English professional clubs now operate with less than one month of cash, while community clubs face mounting regulatory, insurance and banking barriers that would cripple most small businesses.

The raise is designed to give those most affected by the financial fragility of sport the chance to invest and have ownership at a formative stage ahead of Sporta’s planned UK banking licence application in 2026.