Football media giant COPA90 scores £1.75m investment ahead of busy summer of sport

The world’s largest independent football media business and self-styled “home of global football culture” has secured a £1.75m facility from alternative finance provider Growth Lending, to support its ambitious growth goals.

Growth Lending, which has a strong track record in the media lending space, has provided COPA90 with the substantial sum following the firm’s exponential growth in recent years, as well as the exceptional management demonstrated throughout Covid-19.

With football fan culture at the heart of the business, the investment will provide COPA90 with crucial working capital, which will accelerate existing and future projects during this exciting summer of sport.

The London-based business has a reach of more than 80 million fans worldwide and uses its distributed media network to reinforce the message that football is not just a game, but a way to bring people together. COPA90’s platform hosts behind-the-scenes interviews with popular players, videos of football challenges and immersive documentaries of players, teams and football culture. Now, with the UEFA European Championship 2020 well underway and a busy summer of sport ahead, this additional cash injection will propel the firm towards its next stage of growth.

Growth Lending is a leading provider of fast, flexible and tailored funding for high-calibre B2B firms. The team – based in London, Manchester and Bristol – has decades of experience encompassing institutional lenders, alternative finance and invoice discounting, that gives them the confidence to lend quickly. The lender provided more than £80m of funding in 2020, including £64m under the government’s CBILS initiative and aims to be a £200m business by the end of 2021.

Stephen May, chief financial officer at COPA90, says: “We could see the growth potential in our business, but needed to fund the working capital required to fulfil that potential.

“Strong relationships with key decision makers at Growth Lending has meant that we’ve developed a collaborative partnership, which will be instrumental as we take our next steps.”

Julian Hornby, principal at Growth Lending says: “It is great to be able to continue working with the team at COPA90 and support its ongoing growth journey.

“Our investment will fuel several exciting projects this summer, as part of the busy sporting calendar, so we’re looking forward to watching them come to fruition.”