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When they worked at the Bank of England, Matthew Austin and Ryan Lovelock understood the frustration of finding time for the gym.
Sneaking out for a lunchtime sesh or scrambling to leave work on time for an evening class is a familiar challenge for fitness-focused city workers.
Austin said: “We were kind of here, there and everywhere.
“I committed to one studio that I wanted to work in, but I was only able to be a member there for a couple of months…and I wasn’t really getting value for money.
“So we came up with a concept, because it was really something that we wanted in our lives.”
The pair’s exasperation led them to launch Sportl, a pay-as-you-go app that lets users book a class without a subscription or membership.
The company has closed a £250,000 pre-seed funding round backed by various industry experts and officially launched on the app store on Tuesday, bringing their solution to Londoners.
The pair also appointed fitness influencer Lucy Gray, who has over 12,000 followers, as marketing manager and Sean Sevant, who worked in sales at David Lloyd, as partnerships manager, pulling in more industry knowledge and expertise.
The investment saw participation from both strategic partners and investors, including Kevin Hewitt, former EMEA chairman of FTI Consulting and chairman of the Board for Sportl, James Hardy, former Deliveroo executive, and health tech investor Jamie Hearne.
Filling the gap in the fitness market
Austin and Lovelock incorporated Sportl in 2023, and initially had the idea of helping people find their local grassroots sports clubs, but pivoted to today’s format after realising that it would be difficult to keep alive from “a monetary perspective”.
The pair spent evenings after work speaking to gym owners about their idea for a booking platform, engaging with over 300 providers.
Lovelock said: “Matt and I spent the last year walking the streets of London, sitting down and talking first hand with gym owners and managers to understand what is missing in the industry, and if Sportl could be the answer.”
The responses confirmed to them that there was a gap in the market, with independent gyms in particular noting the fear and frustration of using external booking platforms, such as Classpass, with some making minimal commission in some cases.
Tony Chin, founder of Amica Shoreditch, said: “Users who access our classes through Classpass don’t want a membership because they already have one.
“If we converted every Classpass member we would have thousands of pounds, however, we often make nothing and have to turn away our own members; we look busy, but we’re struggling.”
Classpass told City AM that it sets a negotiated, floor rate with partners based on direct membership pricing and uses real-time data to predict empty spots and fill them.
The company added that gyms earn more for classes at high-value times.
Sportl grants gyms full control over price, availability and classes on the system, with the platform in return getting commission.
The fitness industry has grown substantially in recent years, reaching a record valuation of approximately £6.5bn in 2025, with total revenue hitting £5.7bn, according to the latest report from UK active.
Fitness apps have also sprinted onto the scene, with over a third of UK adults using such apps, while nutrition companies have also bulked up their presence, including FTSE listed Applied Nutrition.
But despite the range of fitness products roaring into the market, it is one of the lone sectors without a marketplace.
Austin said: “Every industry in the world, realistically, has a fantastic marketplace.
“There isn’t one in the fitness space yet and that’s what we’re trying to create.”
London, networking and a pilates class
While the company has its eyes on national expansion, Austin and Lovelock chose London to be its launch city, with 50 gyms available, including popular boutique studios RFRM and Trainyard.
The pre-seed investment will go towards the platform cementing itself as a city fixture, as well as fund the rollout of new features once the initial product and offerings have been established.
Lovelock noted that London offered the company the ability to tap into new forms of networking, with many young workers wishing to meet people outside of the pub.
He said: “What we found a lot as well talking to focus groups, industries where people take clients out, a lot of that used to take part in the pub…nowadays I know quite a few people that love going to pilates or brunch as that network side instead.”
Austin also acknowledged the ability to capture commuters who come into the office only a few times a week, offering them a solution to working out when in the city.
He said: “London has some of the best studios and facilities available and people that might not be coming to London five days a week don’t have the opportunity to access them as easily.”
The pair also acknowledged that some of the chains working with the platform in London have branches elsewhere, granting them a “fairly simple” transition into other cities.
