SportPursuit.co.uk, the UK's first members-only flash sales business specializing in sports brands, today announces the close of its Series A round of funding for $2.3 million. DFJ Esprit, the European venture capital firm that supports cross-stage companies, led the round alongside a number of prominent business angels from the sport and ecommerce sectors.

SportPursuit is the largest private club of sports shoppers in the UK. It operates flash sales of sports brands which last up to a week and are exclusively available to SportPursuit's member community. The company works with a selection of the best sports brands from around the world, and with this new investment it plans to broaden the repertoire of brands it works with in order to provide its members with an even greater choice of inspirational sports products. To support its ambitious growth plans, SportPursuit is investing heavily to build up its team of passionate, sports enthusiasts to continue to deliver excellent service to its brand partners and loyal members.

Adam Pikett, CEO and co-founder of SportPursuit, said, "Since launching SportPursuit we've been overwhelmed by the positive reaction from sport and outdoor enthusiasts and high performance sports brands alike. We decided to seek a partner to enable us to grow our team of sports loving staff and to secure our position as the leading business of its type in the UK and, in time, beyond. With its global reach, and strong track record in nurturing and growing ecommerce businesses, DFJ Esprit is the perfect investor - and partner - for us."

Paul Murray, Partner at DFJ Esprit, commented, "We are excited to be able to invest in one of the fastest growing startups in the retail industry, as the proven private members model becomes available to sports fans. The SportPursuit team's addiction to sport runs through their entire business and ensures a deep understanding of the market and continual injection of customer-driven innovation."

As part of the oversubscribed funding round, a host of leading angels invested alongside DFJ Esprit, including Peter Draper, former marketing director for Manchester United football club, Alex Chesterman, CEO of Zoopla and co-founder of LOVEFiLM and William Reeve, co-founder of LOVEFiLM and now a non-exec Director of several high-growth e-commerce businesses including Graze.com, Media Ingenuity, Paddy Power and Secret Escapes.

SportPursuit is one of twelve companies to have received capital from DFJ Esprit's newest fund, DFJ Esprit III, with the venture firm's dedication to investment in the brightest and most promising European startups clear in the sheer volume of recent deals.

About DFJ Esprit
DFJ Esprit is a leading cross-stage venture capital firm that invests from seed to late stage in European ecommerce, technology and media companies. Members of the DFJ Esprit team have experience of investing in over 200 companies and generating strong returns for investors through building valuable companies alongside the founders and management teams. DFJ Esprit is the exclusive European partner for Silicon Valley-based VC, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which has $7 billion under management and offices in over 30 cities around the world.
www.dfjesprit.com

About SportPursuit
SportPursuit, the UK's first sport flash sales site, delivers its members the best prices guaranteed on winning sports brands. SportPursuit aims to make the best products and brands more accessible to members across outdoors (walking, climbing and snowsports) and individual sports (running, cycling and swimming), allowing them to buy more products from brands they love and to discover and trial exciting new brands. SportPursuit's passionate team of sports men and women have built strong direct relations with hundreds of top sports brands to secure prices up to 70% off RRP for members in 7 day flash sales.