British powerlifting champion secures early funding for strength athletics platform

A British powerlifting champion has announced that he has secured early stage investment for his strength athletics platform.

Andrew Smith, who has previously won the European Championships, is the co-founder of Leeds-based Brawn, a platform for strength athletes which has secured new investment for development.

The funding, of an undisclosed amount, comes through investment and innovation firm True, along with a selection of private investors, including Nick Mitchell of personal training brand Ultimate Performance.

Sohail Rashid, co-founder, commented: “I fell in love with strength training and the many benefits of achieving personal goals through lifting at both a recreational and competitive level.

“Like most strength sports, powerlifting is an individual sport, however what many don’t appreciate is that there is a very strong and highly supportive lifting community.

“The sport and hobby lacks a single point solution that enables participants to access the information that they need.

“We’ve developed Brawn to provide this community with digital tools to remove points of friction and improve the experience at all levels.

“It’s our vision to encourage and empower all lifters, regardless of ability or experience to connect with the global lifting community. To step into their own power through analysis & performance whilst slowly stepping outside of their comfort zone to compete virtually.”

Claire Cherry, early stage investment principal at True, said: “With Brawn, Sohail and the team are capitalising on the ever strengthening relationship between fitness and the digital world.

“We believe more consumers will interact with these platforms in the future as they seek to make their fitness regimes more social, convenient and data driven.

“Brawn’s focus on targeting the underserved strength community fits well with True’s ongoing commitment to investing in innovative platforms serving highly-engaged audiences. Leveraging our experience from our existing investment in online cycling and fitness platform Zwift, we will support the Brawn team with market leading insight from the virtual sporting community, and make introductions to relevant talent from across our consumer network.”

Nick Mitchell, founder and CEO of Ultimate Performance says: “I was impressed with the approach that Sohail and his team have taken to deliver a solution to the global lifting community.

“They have identified an area of the market that would really benefit from the virtual community model and other tools that the Brawn product brings. I really like the way that they intend to use data and technology to tap into the competitive nature of anyone that enjoys lifting weights.

I will use my own personal experience in strength training and consumer fitness, along with the experience of the trainers and clients from the Ultimate Performance brand to help them with their vision.“

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