{"id":948040,"date":"2026-05-09T09:50:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T09:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/948040\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T09:50:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T09:50:24","slug":"im8-inter-miami-deal-signals-shift-toward-equity-based-sports-nutrition-partnerships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/948040\/","title":{"rendered":"IM8-Inter Miami deal signals shift toward equity-based sports nutrition partnerships"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Beckham-backed supplement brand IM8 has entered a multi-year partnership with Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF, a deal that reflects how sports nutrition and wellness brands are increasingly pursuing deeper operational and financial collaboration with professional sports organizations.<\/p>\n

According to Prenetics, it marks the first time Inter Miami has taken an ownership position in a brand partner.<\/p>\n

The partnership expands IM8\u2019s growing presence in professional sports following the launch of its Daily Ultimate Essentials product and broader longevity-focused platform, which NutraIngredients previously covered <\/a>in reporting on the brand\u2019s debut and subsequent product rollout.<\/p>\n

Equity models gain traction in sports nutrition<\/p>\n

The deal structure reflects the ongoing industry-wide evolution from traditional endorsement arrangements toward equity-based partnerships as brands align long-term commercial interests among brands, athletes and sports organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe traditional sports nutrition deal is a transaction: brand pays cash, club wears the logo, nobody\u2019s incentives are actually aligned,\u201d Danny Yeung, CEO of Prenetics and co-founder of IM8, told NI. <\/p>\n

Yeung said the company has already adopted an equity model with athlete partners, including David Beckham, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Aryna Sabalenka and Ollie Bearman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe athletes and clubs with real leverage want ownership, not invoices, and only the brands with genuine product credibility and a long-term thesis can offer equity \u2014 because nobody wants shares in a brand that won\u2019t be here in five years,” he added. <\/p>\n

As part of the agreement, IM8 products, including Daily Ultimate Essentials, Daily Ultimate Longevity and The Beckham Stack, will be integrated into Inter Miami\u2019s Florida Blue Training Center and made available to players and staff as part of daily nutrition and recovery routines.<\/p>\n

The deal also includes group player name, image and likeness rights tied to at least four Inter Miami players, along with stadium signage, digital content and fan activations.<\/p>\n

NSF certification increasingly important in professional sports<\/p>\n

Yeung said third-party certification was essential for entering elite sports environments, particularly as professional organizations continue to prioritize testing for banned substances and compliance protocols.<\/p>\n

\u201cNSF Certified for Sport is non-negotiable at this level…pro athletes can\u2019t take supplements that haven\u2019t been tested for banned substances,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n

He added that certification requirements continue to create barriers for some brands seeking access to professional teams and training facilities. \u201cA lot of brands in our space simply can\u2019t sit inside a pro locker room because their products haven\u2019t been tested.\u201d <\/p>\n

The emphasis on certification reflects a wider trend across sports nutrition and wellness categories, where brands are increasingly using professional sports partnerships to reinforce quality and compliance credentials. Nutrafol, for example, recently partnered<\/a> with Major League Baseball following its NSF Certified for Sport designation.<\/p>\n

Athlete integration expected to support product development<\/p>\n

Beyond marketing exposure, Yeung said the Inter Miami partnership is intended to create a direct feedback loop between IM8 and the club\u2019s sports science and medical teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the part of the deal we\u2019re most excited about, and it\u2019s why we\u2019re building an IM8 Nutrition Center inside the Inter Miami training facility, [as] it gives us a daily feedback loop with the sports science and medical staff,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The company confirmed in a press statement that it plans to evaluate areas including hydration, sleep quality, gut health, recovery markers and biomarker trends across a competitive season.<\/p>\n

Yeung added that elite athletes provide a high-intensity testing environment for formulation and compliance considerations.<\/p>\n

\u201cPro athletes are the hardest stress test in the world, [and] that kind of daily use surfaces real signal on what works and what doesn\u2019t \u2014 formulation, format, dosing, compliance, education,” he explained. <\/p>\n

All-in-one formulations target foundational nutrition<\/p>\n

The company has positioned IM8\u2019s all-in-one formulation strategy as complementary to individualized sports nutrition protocols commonly used by professional teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not pretending IM8 replaces a sports nutritionist…pro athletes will continue to individualize, and they should,\u201d said Yeung. Instead, he said the company sees its Daily Ultimate Essentials product as a core platform that can simplify broad supplement regimens before additional performance-specific products are layered on top.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat IM8 replaces is the messy 8-to-12-product foundational stack most athletes are stitching together from brands of wildly varying quality,\u201d Yeung said, and for mainstream consumers, adherence is a key consideration. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe supplements people actually take every day beat the perfect stack they don\u2019t,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Prenetics said IM8 reached approximately $120 million in annualized recurring revenue in its first year and projects between $180 million and $200 million in full-year 2026 revenue. The brand currently ships to more than 40 countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Beckham-backed supplement brand IM8 has entered a multi-year partnership with Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":948041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4318],"tags":[105,4434,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-948040","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-nutrition","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=948040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/948041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=948040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=948040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=948040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}