General Atlantic invests in Gymshark, the fitness community and apparel brand.
Gymshark was set up in 2012 by Ben Francis. In early 2015, Steve Hewitt joined as CEO and Paul Richardson as Executive Chairman. Since then, the company has a community of over 12 million followers on social platforms. The company's 16-24-year-old market is increasing with numbers of young people becoming more health conscious.
Ben Francis, Founder of Gymshark, said: “It has been an incredible ride over the last eight years to get to this point, but today signals the next chapter in the Gymshark story. We are nothing without our community, so we will use this new investment partnership to get even closer to them on a truly global scale. I’m incredibly proud of what Gymshark has achieved to date from our roots in Birmingham, but it’s all about looking forward. I firmly believe Gymshark has the potential to be to the UK what Nike is to the US and Adidas is to Germany, and today is a significant step to realising that.”
Gabriel Caillaux, Co-President, Managing Director and Head of General Atlantic’s business in EMEA, added: “We believe Gymshark is an authentic, disruptive and differentiated brand. Against a backdrop of rising social media usage, rapid growth of e-commerce and increasing focus on health and wellness, Gymshark is positioned to seize the opportunity of further growth.”
