A £300,000 vote of confidence from Pure Gym co-founder James Jack has helped boutique fitness chain 1Rebel surge to £3m in its latest funding round – double the initial £1.5m target.

Jack, who was a founding director of the UK’s biggest gym chain and served as finance director from 2009 to 2012, bought a £300,000 stake in 1Rebel during the funding round on Crowdcube. This sparked a late flurry of interest from investors, leading 1Rebel management to double the funding round target in exchange for more equity.

Having initially offered a 13.04 per cent stake in the business for £1.5m in the funding round, the revised offer saw 23.08 per cent equity on offer for £3m – a target which the fitness chain reached with two days to spare.

“Funding grew substantially after James Jack invested, giving us an extra stamp of approval,” 1Rebel co-founder James Balfour told Health Club Management, adding that the chain is one of only four companies to have ever reached £3m on Crowdcube.

“Investors in this round get a smaller slice of a bigger pie due to the massive overfunding, but they also have shares in a business with firepower for growth now.”

The successful completion of the latest funding round means 1Rebel now values itself at £13m. Having launched two studios in London this year, 1Rebel plans to continue this rate of expansion over the next four years, with a view to reaching at least 10 sites in 2019.

The money raised from the latest funding round will be used for day-to-day costs of running current and future clubs, as well as to cover capital expenditure in opening new clubs – mainly equipment and leasehold improvements.

To read an interview with the team behind 1Rebel, from the February edition of Health Club Management, click here.