Fast-growing eCommerce fulfilment company Huboo is to become the main shirt sponsor for all five of Bristol Sport’s professional teams, including Bristol City and Bristol Bears, in a UK first for a sporting group.
The ground-breaking deal, which takes effect from the start of the 2022/23 season, will make Bristol-based Huboo principal partner for Bristol Sport’s football teams Bristol City men and women, its Bristol Bears men and women rugby teams and basketball side Bristol Flyers. 
The Huboo brand will feature on the front of the shirts of all five teams – the first time a collection of sports teams have had one unified principal partner.
Bristol Sport owner, Guernsey-based billionaire Steve Lansdown CBE, said the move was what the group had aspired to since it was formed in 2014, bringing the football, rugby and basketball teams together in one group.
“We are now able to work with a local company that has grown rapidly itself and looking to improve its own standing in the marketplace,” he said.
“Bristol Sport offers a unique opportunity to associate with all different types of sports, fanbases and communities.
“We’ve always said sport will support the city and the city should support sport.
“Here we have a local business supporting all of our sports and that is fantastic. I’m really looking forward to us working together over the next few years to take us both forward.”
Huboo has grown rapidly since its launch in 2017, expanding its operations from one warehouse to four fulfilment centres across the UK, along with a head office in central Bristol and fulfilment centres in the Netherlands and Spain.
The firm’s growth has accelerated over the past two years by a step-change in eCommerce demand sparked by the pandemic.
Last year it raised £60m in a series B funding round led by Emirati-based sovereign fund Mubadala. 
Earlier this month it snapped up a specialist integration business Roseta.io, also based in Bristol, which works with Notonthehighstreet, Etsy, Shopify and Magento.
It plans to roll out its operations across multiple European markets over the next 12 months.
It said the decision to partner with Bristol Sport – which, according to reports, it originally approached to sponsor just Bristol Bears – was a strategic one to promote the brand across multiple platforms and markets simultaneously. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.
Huboo co-founder and CEO Martin Bysh said: “As Huboo continues to grow at pace and our expansion across Europe accelerates, we’re delighted to announce our position as principal partner to Bristol Sport in a collaboration which has such strong ties to our founding roots.
“Huboo’s core values are perfectly aligned with those of Bristol Sport’s and together we aim to raise the bar for what is possible with a partnership of this scale.
“It’s an exciting time for both Huboo and Bristol Sport. We have a shared vision of making Bristol proud.”
Bristol Sport, which is based at Ashton Gate stadium, says its goal is to “be champions in all that we do, elevating Bristol as a dynamic, exciting fixture on the global sport and entertainment map”.
For Championship side Bristol City, the switch to Huboo as main shirt sponsor also ends a two-year association with online betting company MansionBet, which took over in 2020 from another betting firm Dunder.
Bristol Bears’ current principal sponsor is independently owned investment services group Ravenscroft.
Pictured, from left: Corey Samuels – Flyers Basketball, Simi Pam – Bristol Bears, Ayman Benarous – Bristol City, Martin Bysh – co-founder and CEO of Huboo, Paul Dodd – co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Huboo, Jasmine Bull – Bristol City, and Joe Joyce – Bristol Bears
