David Beckham's IM8 takes $1B in debt from General Catalyst's revenue-share fund
What's the deal? IM8Dealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → Health, the vitamin drink startup co-founded by David Beckham, has taken on $1 billion from General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund (CVF), the company announced in July 2026. The financing is structured as debt, not equity.
How it works: CVF doesn't buy stock or take an ownership stake. Instead, it offers loans repaid through a capped share of revenue, meaning IM8's ownership won't be diluted.
What's the endgame? The loan finances up to 70% of IM8's customer acquisition costs. In return, General Catalyst receives a capped share of "reference income" — revenue from those customers multiplied by a fixed gross-margin assumption. Once the firm recovers its investment and hits the cap, all subsequent revenue from those customers goes to parent company Prenetics.
The company: IM8 is a Prenetics subsidiary that sells a subscription vitamin drink containing longevity-linked compounds, from açai fruit extract to Coenzyme Q10. It was co-founded by chief executive officer Danny Yeung, a self-described high-school dropout who took health company Prenetics public in 2022. A dinner with Beckham led to the venture.
Why it stands out: Among debt rounds by US wellness and beauty companies, IM8's $1 billion ranks in the top 1% by size, out of 224 comparable deals on record.
What could go wrong? CVF suits startups with predictable revenue and a plan to scale, General Catalyst has said. If IM8's subscription revenue falls short, the customer-acquisition bet the loan funds could prove costly.
The signal: CVF is becoming a familiar tool for consumer businesses with recurring revenue. Grammarly took $1 billion from the same fund in May 2025, just before acquiring Superhuman — a sign that founders increasingly favour revenue-share debt over dilutive equity.
Read more: TechCrunch
