23 October 2025

Female Founders of Sports Companies

Explore the impact of female founders of sports companies in the UK, from activewear to innovative tech and wearables startups.

Words John McCrea

Sport is big business both in the UK and internationally. In fact, latest research from Morgan Stanley estimates global sales attributed to companies operating in the sports industry to have hit $521b in 2024.

Back here in the UK, the sports industry is a major employer, with over half a million employees registered to UK-based sports companies, according to our own data from the Beauhurst platform. Sports businesses also contribute £28.0b annually to the UK economy in gross value added (GVA).

Today, we’re examining the impact of female founders in sports, from high-profile activewear giants such as TALA, through to innovative tech startups like Belfast-based Movetru.

Discover the UK's female founder landscape

In continued collaboration with Charles Stanley, our latest report, Female Founders 2024, explores the role of women-led businesses in driving innovation and economic growth.

Female-founded sports companies At a glance

Our research finds that there are approximately 324 female founders of UK-based, sports-focused companies — with the top 10 founders’ estimated shareholdings exceeding £80m in total.

Sports businesses with female founders have also raised a total of £433m, with almost half of that (£214m) invested since 2020. Based on these companies’ latest financials, our analysis finds that sports companies with a female founder contribute over £250m to the UK economy each year.

For example, Deloitte revealed recently that in the 2023/24 season, each of the 12 Women’s Super League (WSL) teams achieved £1m turnover for the first time.

There are further signs of market growth potential with these increased audiences. England in particular enjoyed consecutively successful summers, with the Lionesses securing back-to-back European Championships in 2024, whilst 2025 saw the Red Roses winning the Rugby World Cup.

And with success comes increased investment, so 2026 could be a big year commercially for female-founded sport businesses in the UK.

Spotlight: Five female founders of sports companies

To be included in this article, founders’ companies must:

Be headquartered in the UK
Be Active on Companies House
Have a female founder
Fall under the Beauhurst industry classification(s) of Activetech, Sporting events and activities, Sports clubs, Sports equipment and apparel, or Sports venues

All data presented is accurate as of 14 October, 2025.

Founder of Tala, Grace Beverley is a serial entrepreneur and influencer. Prior to her entrepreneurial ventures, she was known for her social media content as GraceFITUK, before launching TALA — a sportswear brand focused on producing ethically manufactured goods, set in contrast to fast fashion.

Since then, Beverley has gone on to found and invest in a number of other companies, both in sports and productivity.

Founder Naomi McGregor, who was named in the most recent edition of Forbes 30 Under 30, launched Movetru following a career-ending ballet injury.

The business develops a software application and performance tracker designed for fitness rehabilitation and workout content — all built to reduce the risk of sporting injuries.

The company works with sports teams, including Belfast Giants, and a number of UK-based universities. With two fundraisings totalling £1.36m, and sixteen innovation grants worth £794k to support the development of its wearables, Movetru was also named as our MVP of Northern Ireland’s activetech companies.

Alison Akinrinlola is a long-time netball coach for North London-based AP Saints Netball Club — and founder of Birmingham Panthers and Netball Aid, a celebrity-featured charity series similar to Soccer Aid.

In 2024, Akinrinlola formally founded Birmingham Panthers. In order to get the business off the ground, Birmingham Panthers raised £2.50m in February 2025 — and only a couple of months later, the Panthers played their first game in the UK’s Netball Super League (NSL).

Investors include Knighthead Capital Management, which is also a major investor in football team Birmingham City.

ACAI Outdoorwear is an activewear company co-founded by entrepreneur Kasia Bromley with her husband. A student at Edinburgh College of Art, Bromley found that existing ‘adventure’ clothing failed to accommodate inclusive sizing, with many women having to choose between either fashion or function.

Since its incorporation in 2016, ACAI Outerwear has raised three rounds of fundraising worth £3.85m, with the company featuring on the FEBE Growth 100 and Wales Fast Growth 50 high-growth lists in 2023.

Inci Mehmet is an ex-professional golfer and sports pundit-turned-entrepreneur. Previously playing at a high level on the Ladies European Tour, and working with the Wentworth Foundation to support junior golf development, Mehmet has also covered the PGA, DP World Tour, and LPGA on Sky Sports Golf.

In January 2025, Mehmet co-founded Gimme — an online marketplace for buying and selling golf equipment, from golf clubs through to footwear and course accessories. In September 2025, the company completed its first equity fundraising of £115k, giving the business a post-money valuation of £3.51m.

Finding founders on Beauhurst

Whether you’re looking for the high-growth companies in the sports sector, or for companies to partner with for knowledge transfer, Beauhurst is the premiere platform for finding founders and businesses in the UK and Germany.

Identify market trends, streamline your research efforts, and capitalise on opportunities with our extensive dataset. To see the platform in action, take a quick online product tour or to speak to a human, schedule a demo by completing the form below.

John McCrea

Content Associate

John is a Content Associate at Beauhurst, bringing you the latest insights and emerging trends across the UK's high-growth economy. His history as a content writer prior to Beauhurst spans industries including financial services, cyber security, and renewables. In his spare time, you'll invariably find John with a book or pen in hand, reviewing the latest books from independent publishers, and running interviews at some of the UK's most vibrant book festivals.

Discover our data

Get access to unrivalled data on the companies you need to know about, so you can approach the right leads, at the right time.

Schedule a conversation today to see all of the key features of the Beauhurst platform, as well as the depth and breadth of data available.

We’ll work with you to build a sophisticated search, returning a dynamic list of organisations that match your ideal customer profile.

Beauhurst Privacy Policy