Tom Webster

London boutique BLOK launch their 8th crowdfunding raise 7 months ago, they raised £889K on Crowdcube at a pre-money valuation of £11.9M. Shortly after, their Manchester site closed — but numbers from their other locations have since been strong. They’ve now launched another equity crowdfund at a pre-money valuation of £13.65M. A step up in valuation, despite the Manchester closure. Based on their stats, here’s what’s changed since the last raise: 📈 Clapton revenue hit £2.59M in 2025, up 39% vs 2024 💰 Clapton £3.5M revenue projected in 2026, £1.5M EBITDA 📅 226,000 bookings at Clapton in 2025, up 40% YoY 🧊 Sauna + cold plunge generated £388K in 12 months 👥 3,207 active members 🎟️ 18,457 casual users 💌 185K email subscribers 📍 Shoreditch expansion underway + 4 new sites ‘in negotiation’ 🇬🇧 Clapton and Shoreditch are featured in The Fit Guide London BLOK have highlighted these stats to show the market is lively and full of potential: 📊 Global boutique fitness to hit $80B by 2029 📈 UK fitness market to grow 10.3% CAGR to 2034 💪🏼 87% of Gen Z train 3+ times per week BLOK have now raised £8.4M+ in total to date from institutions, angels and crowdfunding. This includes 1,800+ community investors who’ve contributed over £3.3M through Crowdcube. And in an interesting move to target their biggest fans and clients, they’re offering perks for crowdfunded investments: £1,000 gets you 3 months unlimited classes £10,000 gets you 2 years unlimited sessions £50,000 gets you a “Lifetime Unlimited” membership Crowdfunding remains rare in boutique fitness, where most rely on debt or PE. But BLOK continues to lean into the method to support their growth and expansion plans. Well done to Ed Stanbury and the BLOK team on the continued growth and success. Those are some serious numbers for Clapton 👏🏼 Would you invest in your favourite gym with crowdfunding? Or would you consider this method to grow your brand? 👉🏼 Follow Jack Thomas and The Fit Guide for news and insights from the world's leading boutique fitness brands

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𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗜’𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗻. Remember Mick – M-I-C-K – Macro, Income, Costs, Kitty. 𝟵-𝟭𝟭𝗮𝗺 – 𝗠𝗔𝗖𝗥𝗢 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗦𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 🕵️ Aim: Suss out the competition, market developments, your competitive set. Are you looking to grow or protect your market share? Pinpoint your point of difference and confirm the three key actions needed to exploit/protect it. 𝟭𝟭-𝟭𝗽𝗺 – 𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘 & 𝗜𝗡𝗩𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 📈 Aim: Set a top-line revenue target, zoning in on which KPIs are going to deliver this, and cost up how much investment (in marketing, brand, sales, team, equipment) you need to get from here, to there. Don’t forget – if you’re planning +10% growth, you either need to hit the ground running from 1-Jan, or shoot for higher than 10% in H2, so the year averages out. Slice off a little ‘haircut’ if there’s a level of risk involved in hitting these numbers. 𝟭-𝟭.𝟯𝟬 – Go on, grab yourself a slice of toast. 𝟭.𝟯𝟬-𝟯 – 𝗖𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗕𝗔𝗦𝗘 🙇 Aim: Tot up what you need to spend across the year – day-to-day expenditure plus the extra growth investment you identified earlier. Look back at last year’s spend as a guide, catching any inflationary increases, pay rises, NI increases and a contingency for unexpected events. If you’re planning to make cost savings, think about 𝘩𝘰𝘸 and 𝘸𝘩𝘰’𝘴 responsibility you’ll make it. 𝟯-𝟱𝗽𝗺 - 𝗞𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗬 💵 (not 🐱)  Aim: See whether this plan is affordable. Line up your planned incomings and outgoings to get a net inflow/outflow, by month and line this up against your opening balance. You can always revisit assumptions, but if this suggests you need to improve cash flow or seek out funding, book in a call with your friendly finance professional. 5pm – Tea and biscuit time – you did it! 🎉🎉🎉 [Disclaimer: There are lots of approaches to setting a budget. This is one. And if you need a helping hand… talk to us!]. ------------------------------------------ 👋 I'm Katie! Co-Founder of Sure Thing! - a whole fractional team that gets your business foundations ready for growth 🌱 Fancy a chat? Book a call https://lnkd.in/eTrmJMs4 #budget #planning #budgeting #founder #smallbusiness

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POST 2️⃣: ROUND TRIPPING FRAUD 💰 Less than 12 months ago Builder.ai went into bankruptcy. Backed by Microsoft and QIA and once valued at £1.5bn, it turned out that much of it's fast growing revenue was actually just.... "round-tripping". Yesterday, on my daily series of "why diligence is important", #indefenceofdiligence, I discussed Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) that's really one offs. Today, a much more difficult misrepresentation of ARR to spot. 💲Remember the reason why ARR is so important = that's where valuations come from. ⭕ Round-tripping fraud, also know as “circular trading” is one of those issues that can make reported growth look fantastic, while the underlying economics and more specifically cash barely change. Quick summary: ➡️ Company A is friends with Company B. They decide to do business together, perhaps legit at first, but then the CEO has an idea.... ➡️ Company A suggests that if they buy £10m of services from Company B; and then Company B buys £10m of services from Company A, both revenues will be increased by £10m and no actual money ever changes hands. ➡️ To start with both Companies might provide some of the services, but after a while it just becomes a paper move and both revenues are simply inflated without any services being provided. ⛔The truth is even if physical services, or software, are provided it's a warning. Do the customers actually want the product, or is it just to make sure they don't lose their contracts the other way. The goal of all this: reported revenue, GMV, growth rates, margins, or traction can look stronger, supporting higher valuations, better financing terms, or covenant compliance. Three ways an investor can spot this fraud in diligence: 1️⃣ Follow the cash, not the P&L: Look for revenue surging while operating cash flow lags, AR balloons, or “other receivables” creep up. A classic tell is large payments to partners/customers (rebates, marketing funds, “service fees”) that closely mirror sales. 2️⃣ Check for customer supplier overlap and hidden links. Do the same entities (or their affiliates) appear as both customers and vendors? Are there intermediaries with minimal value-add? Any related-party connections, newly formed counterparties, or unusually opaque beneficial ownership? 3️⃣ Scrutinise deal terms and timing patterns. Watch for end-of-quarter spikes, side letters, buy-back/return rights, unusual netting arrangements, round-number invoices, or sales that get reversed with credit notes shortly after period close. If you’re diligencing a business, a simple discipline helps: Reconcile top contracts: invoicing ➡️ cash receipts ➡️ cash outflows to the same ecosystem. Circularity tends to show up when you map flows end-to-end. At Octopus Ventures we're not trying to catch anyone out, and hopefully an understanding of these arrangements will help founders' to clearly show how potential conflicts should be managed and documented. #venturecapital, #roundtripping

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