UAE-based martial arts and holistic education company, GMNSM has raised $2 million from investment firm VEYRA Capital and a private investor to accelerate its international expansion, with the company set to open its first jiu-jitsu academy in Riyadh and its first European location in Monaco.
Founded in 2022 by professional athlete-turned-entrepreneur Andrej Kuprejev, GMNSM has developed a model that combines martial arts and physical education with soft-skills development for children, alongside martial arts programmes for adults.
The company currently operates 11 academies across the UAE, Qatar and Cyprus, serving more than 700 children and adults.
“Our goal has always been to create an environment where children develop discipline, resilience and the life skills they need to thrive,” Kuprejev said, as the company targets broader growth across the Gulf and Europe.
GMNSM’s approach to martial arts and child development
Unlike conventional martial arts academies that primarily focus on physical training and sporting ability, GMNSM has built its model around the broader development of children.
The company combines Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, judo, gymnastics and physical education with programmes designed to strengthen children’s confidence, emotional resilience, problem-solving abilities and social skills.
Its signature programme consists of one hour of physical training followed by 30 minutes focused on soft skills, including goal-setting, reflection, emotional resilience and problem-solving. GMNSM accepts children from the age of two and also provides martial arts classes for adults.
The approach is designed to make physical activity part of a child’s overall development rather than treating sport as an isolated extracurricular activity.
As Kuprejev explained, GMNSM seeks to ensure that children develop “discipline, resilience and the life skills they need to thrive, alongside athletic ability.”
$2m investment to drive international expansion
The newly secured $2 million investment represents a significant step in GMNSM’s plans to take its Dubai-developed model into new international markets.
The funding, provided by VEYRA Capital and a private investor, will support the opening of the company’s first jiu-jitsu academy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as well as its first European location in Monaco.
GMNSM plans to use these new locations as foundations for further expansion, particularly across Saudi Arabia and Europe. Its European growth strategy will eventually target markets including the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Spain.
The company also plans to strengthen its workforce as its operations grow, increasing employee numbers from 40 to 60 by the end of 2026.
VEYRA Capital Venture Partner Konstantin Katsev said the investment was influenced by GMNSM’s “strong founder, clear customer value and a model that can travel across markets without losing the quality of the underlying experience.”
Why GMNSM is targeting Saudi Arabia and Europe
Saudi Arabia has emerged as GMNSM’s next major growth market, with Riyadh expected to become the company’s entry point into the Kingdom. The company believes growing interest in physical activity and children’s development creates an opportunity for its model.
Figures cited by GMNSM indicate that 59.1% of Saudi adults met the recommended threshold of 150 minutes of weekly physical activity in 2025, exceeding the country’s target of 55%.
Physical activity among children aged five to 17 also reached 19%, achieving a target that had initially been set for 2030.
Meanwhile, Monaco has been selected as GMNSM’s first European destination because of its concentration of international families and its potential to serve as a gateway into the broader European market.
From Monaco, the company intends to pursue expansion into the UK, Switzerland and Spain, extending what began as a Dubai-based education and sports model into multiple international markets.
AI technology to maintain quality as GMNSM scales
As GMNSM expands across countries and increases the number of academies it operates, maintaining consistent teaching standards could become a major challenge.
To address this, the company has developed Allim AI, an internal lesson-audit platform designed to monitor coaching performance, student engagement and retention metrics.
The system is intended to analyse how lessons are delivered and provide coaches with actionable feedback, helping management identify areas where teaching quality can be improved.
This technology is particularly important to GMNSM’s expansion strategy because the company wants to grow rapidly without creating significant differences in the experience students receive at different locations.
By using AI as part of its quality-control process, GMNSM hopes to standardise its approach across multiple markets.
The strategy reflects the company’s broader attempt to combine education, sports and technology while building a scalable international membership-based business.
Building a family-oriented community around sport
Beyond its programmes and technology, GMNSM is also attempting to create a community in which physical activity becomes a shared family experience.
While children are a major focus of the company’s programmes, its adult martial arts classes have allowed parents to participate alongside their children.
The company says many parents initially join because they enrol their children and later decide to take classes themselves. This family-oriented approach has helped GMNSM position its academies as more than places where children learn martial arts.
They are designed as communities where families can develop healthy habits, social connections and personal skills together. One parent, H.H.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, described the attraction of the model, saying, “We wanted our child to develop skills that go beyond sport, confidence, discipline and resilience.”
The company believes this broader value proposition will support customer loyalty and international growth.
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