Advising Gymshark on General Atlantic's minority investment

Gymshark, a D2C online fitness apparel brand, was founded in 2012 by teenager Ben Francis from his garage in his parents’ home in Bromsgrove when he was just 19 years old. It has grown from a screen-printing operation into one of the fastest growing and most recognisable brands in fitness.

Gymshark has won numerous awards, including The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 and The Sunday Times International Track 200. Ben Francis was recently named the youngest-ever winner of EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year award. Having achieved exceptional growth since inception, and a revenue CAGR of 56% since 2018, Gymshark is now seeing revenues in excess of £250m. It has 1.7 million followers on Facebook and 4.2m on Instagram. 

Looking back on our relationship with Gymshark

Corporate partner, Tom Rush commented “We first started working with Gymshark in 2014 and the Gateley team has genuinely enjoyed being part of the journey since then. The Gymshark brand has disrupted the athleisure market and the business has a dynamism and ethos that is rarely seen. Their phenomenal success is matched by the humble and co-operative nature of its leadership team and employees. Gymshark’s story is not only fantastic for the Midlands, but for the UK as a whole. It shows that any young person who is like Ben can succeed and achieve something extraordinary if they have the drive, vision and an ability to listen and learn from others."

Paul Richardson, Executive Chairman of Gymshark added: “We have worked with the team for a few years now and on a range of areas as our business has grown. It’s been so important for us to have advisers around us that we cannot only trust but that will also tell it like it is and Gateley has certainly proved itself to be one of those. We look forward to working with them as we take this next important step in the Gymshark story.”