A billion dollars for a vitamin startup and yet football icon David Beckham doesn’t have to sell any company shares.
Raise it like Beckham: A billion dollars for a vitamin startup and yet football icon David Beckham doesn’t have to sell any company shares. That’s exactly what happened to the healthcare startup IM8.
The ex-football star’s company has secured $1 billion in financing from US investor General Catalyst. What’s special: Instead of securing shares in the company, the investor relies on an unusual model. General Catalyst finances a large part of the costs of acquiring new customers and in return temporarily receives a fixed share of these customers’ sales. Once the investment and return have been paid back, all of the income flows back to IM8. The founders retain all of their shares.
IM8 was built by entrepreneur Danny Yeung together with David Beckham. A vitamin drink with ingredients such as coenzyme Q10 and açai extract is sold, which primarily focuses on the longevity trend. The products are sold by subscription.
