David Beckham’s IM8 Secures $1 Billion via General Catalyst Debt Deal

The capital injection is specifically earmarked to cover up to 70% of IM8’s customer acquisition costs. Under the terms, General Catalyst receives a capped percentage of future revenue—termed “reference income”—instead of equity. Once the firm recovers its initial investment plus the agreed-upon cap, all subsequent proceeds flow directly back to the parent company, Prenetics. This model mirrors a similar $1 billion arrangement General Catalyst struck with Grammarly earlier this year.

IM8, co-founded by Prenetics CEO Danny Yeung following a chance meeting with Beckham, markets a subscription-based vitamin drink infused with longevity-focused compounds like Coenzyme Q10 and açai extract. Yeung, who previously took Prenetics public in 2022, is leveraging this debt structure to scale the subsidiary’s reach while maintaining full control over the startup’s cap table. The strategy targets companies with highly predictable subscription revenue, providing a pathway to aggressive expansion without the typical constraints of venture equity.