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Andrew Smith, founder and former CTO of ClearBank, has unveiled his latest venture, Sporta, a new banking platform designed specifically for sports participants, clubs, and communities. The startup has launched its first Crowdcube funding round, which places Sporta at a pre-money valuation of £35 million.
Sporta aims to serve the UK’s large and active sporting population, which the company estimates at around 43 million people, representing an annual financial services spend of approximately £80 billion. The platform plans to offer tailored banking products built around the spending behaviours and needs of individuals and organisations across the sports ecosystem.
Smith will serve as CEO, leveraging his background in building ClearBank, the UK’s first new clearing bank in more than two centuries, as well as RTGS Global. He is joined by co-founders Paul Fraser (COO), with experience in banking and operations, and Vicky Gosling OBE, who brings leadership expertise from the global sports sector.
The current funding round seeks to raise an additional £5 million in seed capital. Family office Lazaroo-Hood is leading the investment, increasing its earlier £2.5 million commitment and pledging £5 million toward a future Series A. The Crowdcube portion of the round is designed to encourage participation from grassroots athletes, supporters, and clubs.
Sporta plans to build its services on an AI-first infrastructure. Smith confirmed that all core workflows, decisioning tools, and customer support functions will be powered by proprietary AI systems, supported by leading third-party providers for core banking and card services. Further technology partner announcements are expected.
A key feature of the platform will be SPORTA PT, a hyper-personalised AI tool that enables users to design financial products aligned to their specific habits and usage patterns, without requiring any technical expertise.
The current Crowdcube campaign runs until November 26 and forms part of Sporta’s broader seed strategy. The funding will support technology development, operational setup, and the UK banking licence application process, with the company targeting Authorisation with Restrictions (AWR) status by Q3 2026.
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