SPORTL

Who are you and what is SPORTL?

We’re Matt Austin and Ryan Lovelock, the co-founders of SPORTL. We met at the Bank of England while completing degree apprenticeships, then moved into careers in consulting, technology and finance.

SPORTL is a pay-as-you-go fitness platform. People can browse, book and pay for individual classes across premium London gyms and studios. Studios choose their pricing and availability, then use SPORTL to bring new customers into spaces that would otherwise go unused.

Why did two people from finance and consulting take on fitness?

Fitness had always been a big part of our lives. Once we were working long corporate hours and travelling regularly, traditional memberships stopped fitting the way we lived. We were paying for access we could not use consistently and still struggled to train wherever our week took us.

When we spoke with independent studios, we found the other side of the same problem. They had spare capacity, yet many booking platforms reduced their control over pricing and customer relationships. That gave us a much clearer opportunity to solve.

What did you want the model to do differently?

We wanted booking a class to feel as simple as choosing where to train today. Users pay for the class they want. Studios decide what to list, when to list it and what to charge.

SPORTL earns a transparent commission on completed bookings. Studio partners can start listing classes for free and retain control of their schedule. That model keeps everyone focused on the same outcome: more people training and more paid spots filled.

Where is SPORTL today?

SPORTL is live on Apple and Google Play, with more than 50 partner studios across London. We are both working on the business full-time and have built a founding team around us.

In 2026, we raised £250,000 in pre-seed funding from investors including Kevin Hewitt, former Deliveroo executive James Hardy and Jamie Hearne. The next stage is about deepening the London network, improving the app and taking the model into other major UK cities.