Andrew Smith, founder of ClearBank and former CTO, has launched his new venture, Sporta, which is currently seeking funding through Crowdcube, valuing the startup at £35 million pre-money.
Sporta aims to deliver banking services tailored for active sports participants, clubs, and communities, targeting 43 million sports enthusiasts in the UK, with an annual financial services market share of £80 billion.
In his new role as CEO, Smith leverages his experience from establishing ClearBank, the UK’s first new clearing bank in 250 years, and RTGS Global. Co-founders Paul Fraser (COO) and Vicky Gosling OBE bring additional expertise in banking operations and global sports administration.
The ongoing funding round through Crowdcube aims to raise £5 million in seed capital. Lead investor Lazaroo-Hood has enhanced its prior investment of £2.5 million with a further £5 million commitment for Series A.
While the seed round is open to all qualifying retail investors, the Crowdcube element specifically targets grassroots sporting participants, players, and fans, allowing them to engage with Sporta.
Details about technology platforms and partners remain under wraps, but Smith emphasizes that AI is central to Sporta’s operations. “Our bank is essentially all AI, with workflows and support managed by our technology,” he stated.
Sporta has developed its own intellectual property to enable customers to design personalized banking solutions. The platform, described as a hyper-personalized agentic AI tool called SPORTA PT, assists users in creating financial products tailored to their specific needs without the complexities of programming them.
The current seed round on CrowdCube will run until November 26th and is part of Sporta’s broader plan to fund technology and operational development as well as pursue a UK banking license, targeting Authorisation with Restrictions status by Q3 2026.