Sports website Sportpost has raised £400,000 from investors including chef Raymond Blanc after one of its directors suffered a serious accident.

Sports website Sportpost has raised £400,000 from investors including celebrity chef Raymond Blanc after one of its directors suffered a serious accident.

Paul Stewart, the son of multimillionaire business tycoon Andy Stewart who founded advisory firms Collins Stewart and Cenkos Securities, was involved in a life-threatening snowboarding accident last year which left him paralysed from the waist down.

Peter Janes, another of Sportpost’s directors, says, ‘This was a terrible time for all of us. Our concern for our friend plus trying to secure investment with less resource meant we were faced with a real challenge.’

However, the company has succeeded in securing the investment from sports fan Blanc and four other investors, as well as angel network Angels 5K, with the help of investment readiness programme Gateway2Investment.

Sportpost.com allows fans to share videos and exchange views and is described by Blanc as ‘the next generation of sports entertainment’.

Charlie Cooper, grandson to the Mini Cooper empire, is also a director of the company.