Venum’s story is inseparable from Dragon Bleu. In May 2004, from the room of his small suburban apartment in Paris, Franck Dupuis created the first French e-commerce website dedicated to martial arts and combat sports. His vision was to make access to sporting equipment more simple and streamlined than the privately distributed and specialized stores the market was used to.

Franck, a visionary, was among the first in Europe to anticipate a wave forming: the giant that is Mixed Martial Arts today. Deciding to put Dragon Bleu products online, imported from Brazil, success was immediate and overwhelming. However, Brazilian brands in 2004 and 2005 did not show great professionalism and were difficult to work to satisfy the growing needs of the European clientele.

In the summer of 2005, Franck Dupuis proposed an alternative, the introduction of a new brand. This brand would offer what the market lacked: quality and original designs.

Venum was born.

In the spring of 2006, while managing the development and commercial logistics of DragonBleu alone, he realized that he could no longer manage this venture solo with the ever-increasing workload. Approaching a former colleague from IBM, Franck proposed a partnership. Jean-François Bandet did not hesitate and dived into the project. Working side by side for almost a decade, they developed the brand together until the summer of 2014, at which time Jean-François Bandet decided to focus his attention on a new entrepreneurial venture. From that point in 2014, Franck Dupuis has been the sole chairman of the brand and is to this day the sole shareholder.

Strategically positioned in the emerging MMA market, Venum introduced products which completely disrupted the market and its competition. Rival brands at that time often suffered from a lack of originality and poor quality, so, a Venum product had to be immediately recognizable in these two essential aspects of design.

Establishing a workshop in Rio de Janeiro for the development and manufacturing of Venum’s first products: ripstop Fight-shorts and cotton T-shirts.

In 2006, Brazil was the beating heart of rising global MMA scene. Opening a Brazilian workshop allowed Venum to be connected to the true spirit of Mixed Martial Arts fans.

To support our commercial development, we quickly started sponsoring recognizable and elite fighters at the end of 2006. Canada's Denis Kang, American Jeff Monson, and Brazilian Pequeno were among the first to join the Venum team. Subsequently, we formed the largest team of elite fighters culminating in the magic quartet of Wanderlei Silva, Jose Aldo, Lyoto Machida, and Mauricio Shogun Rua!

This presence among Brazilian fighters and fans has long been why the brand was considered solely Brazilian despite being French. However, the "Brazilian Snake" owes its name and design to the place of manufacturing of Venum’s first products.

This presence among Brazilian fighters and fans has long been why the brand was considered solely Brazilian despite being French. However, the "Brazilian Snake" owes its name and design to the place of manufacturing of Venum’s first products.

From 2006 to the end of 2009 the brands catalog comprised of apparel products for training MMA (shorts, Tshirts and rashguards). During this period we developed our first Kimonos for Brazilian JiuJitsu and a whole lifestyle range (sweatshirts, caps, sandals…).

At the end of 2009, to meet the needs of our athletes and the combat sports market, we decided to launch a range of equipment. On the quest for an innovative supplier capable of high-quality designs, we removed the production of apparel from Brazil, and had to source a manufacturer with recognisable and significant competence to help us take the brand to the next level. So we headed to Thailand! At the beginning of 2010, we set up a development and production unit to manufacture high-quality products at a reasonable price for the global market. The success was incredible. In just a few years, Venum has become Thailand's biggest manufacturer and also the biggest exporter, far ahead of the local brands.

From 2014, and to support further development, we decided to expand our catalog to new disciplines. Due to our presence in Thailand, Muay Thai was an organic next step, with development of apparel lines and equipment. Our product development has been done in collaboration with the best Nakmuay and Kickboxing fighters. The Venum team is today the most formidable in the world with fighters such as Petrosyan, Sitthichai, Allazov, Doumbé ...

Parallel with Muay Thai, we relaunched our Brazilian Jiu Jitsu line. Conscious that we missed the mark for our fans and customers with the first series of kimonos, in 2017 we wanted to revive the market with a new line of high-level kimonos. To prepare for the BJJ relaunch, we acquired the services of leading athletes in the sport and changed production partners. After a year into the relaunch, in 2018, the world of BJJ saw the return of Venum in the competitive world of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

2018 was also Venum's entry point into the ultra-demanding and elitist world of boxing. With prestigious athlete signings (Linares, Berchelt, Estrada ...) and the launch of the Pro Boxing range. The Pro Boxing range a true culmination of technology and over two years of research and development. Venum positioned themselves with the means to reach their over-arching ambition: to be among the best suppliers in the world. In 2019 with the signing of the best P4P boxer on the planet, V. Lomachenko, and other great champions such as Gvozdyk, Besputin or Dadashev our ambitions were coming to a realisation: to become the global number 1 in boxing!