David Beckham’s Supplement Brand Is Doing $10 Million A Month

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Key Takeaways

- British footballer David Beckham came out with supplement brand IM8 in November 2024.

- Since launch, the brand has achieved $120 million in ARR within the first year and does $10 million in monthly revenue.

- Much of the credit for the brand’s growth goes to Beckham’s cofounder, Danny Yeung.

It’s probably no shocker that when “Golden Balls” David Beckham came out with a supplement brand in November, 2024, it took off. The British footballer has north of 88 million followers on Instagram, not to mention a household name.

But $120 million in ARR within the first year? $10 million in monthly revenue? The No. 1 world female tennis player, Aryna Sabalenka, as an ambassador? There’s clearly something else going on. No matter who you are, cutting through the thick traffic of the supplement market, jammed with products and skepticism, is daunting. Not to mention all the supplements already backed by celebrity athletes—Tom Brady, Venus Williams, Lebron and Arnold (James and Schwarzenegger) to name a few. A lot of the credit goes to Beckham’s cofounder Danny Yeung.

When they first met in London via a mutual friend, on the face of it, the two had nothing in common. Yeung was founder of Prenetics, a Hong Kong Covid testing startup, and his biggest win in sports had been selling baseball cards at age 12. Beckham, of course, was Beckham. But they connected on the topic of supplements—Beckham because he was sick of taking so many pills every day and Yeung because he saw the potential for using science to stand out in an unregulated market filled with questionable products. They walked out of the meeting on the way to founding IM8.

David Beckham. Credit: IM8

“From the start, Danny and I shared in the frustration of an overly complicated supplement market,” says Beckham. “Our partnership is founded on a willingness to invest in time and resources to do this right, through clinical trials, scientific testing, and a world-class Scientific Advisory Board.”

Identify the weakness in the market

Yeung isn’t the type of entrepreneur to stay in his lane. His first company sold furniture to hotels; the second offered daily deals online and was acquired by Groupon. With a decent exit and a lot of marketing under his belt, he wanted a new challenge and saw an opportunity in genetic testing and diagnostics, launching Prenetics in 2014. Despite not having any science background, he managed to partner with people who did—a skill he would draw on with IMB. During Covid, Prenetics’ PCR test helped it grow to 1,300 people and brought in more than $800 million in revenue over three years, all of which helped Yeung take the company public in 2021.

Danny Yeung. Credit: IM8

But as the world emerged from the pandemic, business slowed to a drip. Yeung was eyeing a pivot when he met Beckham. “So many people told me not to get into the supplement industry,” he says, “Number one, it’s so competitive. And two, there are just lots of bad apples given that it’s unregulated.” But Yeung saw those market weaknesses as sign posts for how IM8 could win. “We came into it asking ‘How do we create a new standard of excellence?’”

Right off the bat, the two founders agreed that they would not lean on the footballer’s fame but rather on whether the product actually works. It’s a smart gambit, according to Bill Giebler, director of content and insights at the Nutrition Business Journal (NJB). “Celebrity affiliation is excellent for brand discovery. Long-term success, however, will depend on product quality, efficacy and consumer satisfaction.”

Focus on your unique selling proposition

IM8’s first product would be an answer to Beckham’s wish: an all-in-one daily supplement powder to meet every nutritional need. To develop it, the brand would apply similar metrics as Prenetics’ other products. Then Yeung would market it with hard-hitting science branding.

IM8 product. Credit: IM8

He set about building a scientific advisory board aiming for the top pros. “Supplement companies have reached out to me for years and I would just delete, delete, delete, delete,” says Dawn Mussallem, founder of the Mayo Clinic Integrative Breast Oncology Program who left after 25 years in December to become chief medical officer of Fountain Life. “But this was a very well written, compelling email. There was nothing about David Beckham, which was good because I would not do a celebrity brand. What they did share was the science, and that Prenetics had originally started with early cancer detection, which automatically I was eyes wide open—and they said, ‘we would like just to meet with you to hear some of your aspirations, wellness goals.’” She got on the phone with Yeung at 4:00 am the next day during an Uber ride to the airport. “It was one of the most transformational calls in my life.”

Yeung also persuaded the director of Cedars-Sinai Human Microbiome Research Institute and a fo