Ben Johns comes to the right side to hit a short shot against Anna Bright and Hayden Patriquine during the PPA Carvana Mesa Cup 2026 Pro Mixed Doubles division final match at the Arizona Athletic Grounds on February 22, 2026 in Mesa, Arizona.
Bruce Yeung | Getty Images
Pickleball Inc., the new parent company of Major League Pickleball and the PPA Tour, announced Friday that it has raised a record new investment of $225 million, as the sport of paddleboarding continues its rapid growth trajectory.
The latest investment comes from Apollo Global Management’s newly created sports fund, Apollo Sports Capital, and Dundon Capital Partners, owned by billionaire Tom Dundon. Dundon owns the Portland Trail Blazers NBA team and the Carolina Hurricanes NHL team and was an early investor in pickleball.
The new funds bring the total investment in Pickleball Inc. to $315 million, as investors continue to view emerging sports as a place to park their money. The raise values Pickleball Inc. at $750 million, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the company’s valuation.
The deal also includes consolidating several pickleball assets under the Pickleball Inc. umbrella, creating what the company called the largest pickleball ecosystem to date.
Pickleball Inc. will take over a portfolio of pickleball assets previously owned by Dundon, including Pickleball Central, a leading pickleball equipment site founded in 2006. The portfolio also includes PickleballTournaments.com, software that powers thousands of tournaments at all levels of play, as well as Just Courts, a pickleball court installer.
Pickleball Inc.’s newly merged business segments together generated more than $140 million in revenue in 2025, the company said.
In a statement, Connor Pardoe, CEO of MLP and PPA Tour, called the new investment a “seismic day” for the rapidly growing pickleball business at all levels.
“This investment allows us to fully integrate the sport into a cohesive ecosystem, bringing together professional pickleball, consumer goods, technology and media under a single, unified platform,” Pardoe said.
Dundon and the Pardoe family will remain majority shareholders in the company following the investment.
Pickleball has exploded in popularity in recent years, with more than 24 million U.S. players participating in 2025, making it the fastest-growing sport in the country over the past three years, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association’s annual report.
At the professional level, the MLP and PPA Tour have seen major growth with a total of $30 million in sponsorship revenue in 2025 and $60 million in combined revenue for 2025, according to the United Pickleball Association, which manages both leagues. The MLP and PPA Tour forecast combined revenues of $74 million in 2026.
Pickleball Inc.’s new capital will be used to further integrate pickleball activity across all levels of play and create a streamlined pickleball ecosystem, the company said.
“This capital raise will allow us to expand our focus into new, scalable opportunities such as content, media and infrastructure development to support our fast-growing events,” MLP Commissioner Samin Odhwani said in a statement. “Continued and dynamic year-over-year growth data has proven beyond doubt that pickleball is no longer an emerging sport, but is quickly becoming America’s next premier sport.”