A trio of Scottish rugby internationals have invested a combined £80,000 in a wellness brand that is looking to go global with products to help with sleep, stress and fitness.
Jonny Gray, Greig Laidlaw and Finn Russell have joined more than 300 other investors on Seedrs to help Puresport break through its £1 million funding target in just five hours. The business, founded by former Scotland rugby international Grayson Hart in 2018, will use the proceeds of £1.3m to boost its retail presence and expand overseas.
The company sells a range of wellness products having started life producing WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) compliant CBD (cannabidiol) pain relief for drug-tested athletes.
"To raise £1m through crowdfunding is massive, to do so in just a few hours is mind blowing," Mr Hart said. "The community we have built around Puresport truly trusts and believes in what we produce and what we stand for, and we are all stoked to have them along for the ride as investors now too.
“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."
The firm now plans to press ahead with expansion into the US and Australian ecommerce markets in the coming months, having launched in New Zealand – Mr Hart's native country – earlier this week.
Puresport said it will also focus on the mainstream UK retail market after becoming one of the first CBD producers to gain approval for legal sale in the country, following the introduction of stringent Food Standards Agency regulation.
Funds will also be invested in product innovation. In the past 12 months, Puresport has expanded its remit beyond CBD to other natural wellness base products, including mushrooms.
The company generated revenues of £2m in 2021, and expects that to rise to £2.8m this year.
Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University hopes new technique will improve patient care
Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University has hailed a manufacturing “breakthrough”, which it says enables fibre-optic medical devices with applications including laser surgery and cancer detection to be made in a fraction of the time previously needed.
Its advance involves the use of laser beam shaping techniques. The university expressed hopes its breakthrough would “accelerate adoption of new devices to improve patient care”.
Cineworld shares routed as chain warns of ‘very significant dilution’
Shares in Cineworld suffered a further rout yesterday after the struggling cinema chain confirmed it was exploring restructuring options that could “result in a very significant dilution of existing equity interests”.
The world’s second-largest cinema group saw a further 20.5 per cent wiped from its stock market worth after it reiterated that investors would lose out in the event it concludes “any deleveraging transaction”.
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