Grayson Hart (with the ball) playing for the Blues against the Crusaders in a Super 14 match in 2009. Photo / Photosport
Former Blues rugby player Grayson Hart opens up about how his reliance on pain killers following a knee injury kicked him into exploring the world of nootropics and eventually founding his own firm, Puresport. Aimee Shaw reports
Former Blues player Grayson Hart was taking six tramadol a day before he began looking into alternative pain relief following a knee injury that eventually led him to start his own firm.
The ex-rugby pro weaned himself off painkillers and instead took cannabidiol (CBD) and mushroom-infused nootropics during his off season from playing for Auckland and later Scotland. But unable to continue to take the supplements once training and the season resumed, that sparked his desire to create the world's first range of CBD products certified under World Anti-Doping Agency guidelines for drug tested athletes.
Backed by former All Blacks coach John Hart, Hart's Puresport has raised almost $3 million from UK investors in its latest investment round.
The London-based firm, which makes cannabidiol and mushroom-infused supplements, raised its first £1m in investment in just five hours and opened up another $600,000 for equity crowdfunding. It has more than 300 investors and the capital raise values the business at £12m ($23m).
The firm has backing from several professional rugby players including former All Black Jerome Kaino and Scottish stars Jonny Gray, Greig Laidlaw and Finn Russell, who combined have invested more than £80,000 ($150,000).
John Hart, Grayson's uncle, is an early investor in Puresport.
CBD is a non-psychoactive compound of the cannabis plant, well-known for how it helps to manage pain and aid relaxation and better sleep.
Puresport recently began selling into New Zealand, except for its CBD-based products which are banned for sale in this country. The company launched a local website earlier this month and is readying itself to launch into the retail channel.
Puresport co-founder Grayson Hart told the Herald the company was founded to overcome what he called the "quick-fix mentality" the younger generation had fallen into.
Hart, who grew up in Auckland, fell into the business by chance after undertaking a personal journey with cannabidiol for pain management during his days as a professional rugby player.
Hart signed his first professional contract at age 19, straight out of school, playing for Auckland and then the Blues before he moved to the UK to play for Scotland. He lived in and played for Scotland for four years and now lives in London, working on the business full-time after retiring from professional rugby in 2020.
Puresport sells pure CBD oils of different strengths, topical balms and supplements that include mushroom-derived ingredients such as lion's mane, charga and reishi.
Former All Black Jerome Kaino, Wales scrum-half Rhys Webb and former England stand-off Danny Cipriani are said to use the product.
"The whole idea of Puresport is to help people overcome what we call the "quick-fix mentality" that we feel our culture has got caught up in; which is you can't sleep, you take a sleeping pill or if you've got no energy you use caffeine or if you've got pain you take a painkiller," said Hart.
He said the ethos of the brand was to create natural alternatives to help with pain, sleep, brain health, gut health and the immune system.
"It was actually my career in rugby that led me to my interest in natural alternatives. I suffered a knee injury early in my career and through ongoing drive and pursuits of staying on the field and to get the next contract and perform well ... it led me down the route of being reliant on painkillers early on in my career.
"From about the age of 21 onwards, I was utilising a lot of painkillers during the week and on game days because my knee never came right. I would go from there to cortisone injections and it got to the point where I was 25 and got a scan on my knee and [the specialists] said: Look your knee is really bad, it has no cartilage in it, you should probably retire," Hart recalled.
"It was a bit of a shock to the system because I was just used to the pain by that point and playing through it with painkillers. My view was that I didn't want to retire - back then rugby felt like all I had. It felt like my identity, how I made money, and I still had all of these ambitions. At the time I had just managed to play my first international game for Scotland and so it all came at a time where I thought that was so sad.
"That made my reliance on painkillers even more drastic because my club and the specialists they sent me to said I should retire. I was nervous that they would maybe try to get rid of me out of my contract or not pick me because I worry about my knee so I didn't want to let on that I was in pain or struggling, so I was on more and more painkillers and I can recall at the worst point it went from me taking codeine to tramadol as I needed to take stronger ones as my body was getting used to them."
At that worst point, Hart said he was on six tramadol every day.
"That is honestly no way to live. You are just pumped full of opioids. I started to notice an addictive tendency to them as well, and I just wasn't myself. It had a lot of effects on my health."
He eventually began researching ways to move away from his reliance on painkillers and still function as a sportsman with his knee issues, when he began learning about the benefits of mushroom supplements such as lion's mane and charga, he said.
"When I was researching it was more commonly used in America, and I saw these articles about American football players and UFC fighters talking about how they were using this supplement to replace painkillers and it was helping with sleep quality and recovery and pain."
He pondered the legality of athletes being able to take CBD as the industry was heavily drug tested and cannabis a banned substance but CBD had been removed from the world anti-doping list.
Hart said he struggled to find any CBD products that were third-party certified and suitable to take so he waited for the rugby offseason to try out the efficacy.
"Over a four-week period, I was able to taper off the painkillers and only utilise these products. I was taking oils and topical balms for the pain and that was the first time in so many years that I was able to do training, running and gym without taking any of these painkillers," the 34-year-old said.
"My knee wasn't fixed, and is still to this day buggered, but functioning without the painkillers was such an eye opener for me because I realised how much clearer my mind felt, my energy levels, my gut health and sleep quality had also improved."
Hart went back to rugby training and was told he was not allowed to take the CBD, which sparked his drive to create the world's first range of CBD and mushroom nootropics certified for sport.
He spent 18 months working on the products before launching Puresport in 2018. He paid consultants and hired staff to ensure the products were certified for sport and World Anti-Doping Agency guidelines for drug-tested athletes.
For the first two years of running the business, Hart was still playing rugby.
His goal was to grow the business to the point where he could build a team around him, step out and pay himself a salary and accelerate the company's growth.
The firm has a group of private investors from New Zealand and UK and some leading former rugby players in the Northern Hemisphere.
Puresport has raised £1m through 12 private investors and £400,000 via 300 backers on equity crowdfunding platform Seeders.
Its last investment round included well-known names such as former Scottish finance director of the year and former Clyde Blowers Capital director, Alex Stewart, Brad MacCulloch, former head of US rates trading in Asia and Europe for Deutsche Bank, and Neil Watson, managing director of Cairnhill Structures, along with former British and Irish Lions player Finn Russell.
The fresh capital raised would be used to accelerate growth, expand into new markets, and ongoing product development. Puresport plans to launch into the wholesale retail channel and is looking into opening its own store, Hart said.
The firm held its first pop-up shop on Oxford St last week and may host more in different locations. Hart plans to hold a pop-up in New Zealand later this year.
Puresport is currently in talks to be stocked in Harrod's and Selfridges, and its first confirmed retail stockist is upmarket British lifestyle store Flannels.
Hart said he would love to open a Puresport store in New Zealand - perhaps its first - to pay homage to his Auckland roots.
The New Zealand launch was a "hugely proud" moment, he said.
Last year Puresport clocked £2.1m in sales through its website. So far all of its sales have been via the direct to consumer channel and it has not yet done any digital marketing.
"This year has been very foundational, building the team, ensuring that we have the foundations in place to go to the next level. Next year onwards, we are looking for international expansion into retail."
Puresport is currently working towards expanding into Australia, Europe and the USA.
The proud Kiwi said the long-term plan was to have the Puresport logo on the front of both the Blues and All Blacks jerseys.
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