Ben Johns steps up to the right side and hits a dink shot against Anna Bright and Hayden Patrikeen during the 2026 PPA Carvana Mesa Cup professional mixed doubles division finals at Arizona Athletic Grounds on February 22, 2026 in Mesa, Arizona.
Bruce Yong | Getty Images
Pickleball, Inc., the new parent company of Major League Pickleball and the PPA Tour, announced Friday that it has raised a record $225 million in new investment as the paddle sport continues its rapid growth trajectory.
The investment came from Apollo Sports Capital, Apollo Global Management’s new sports fund, and Dundon Capital Partners, owned by billionaire Tom Dundon. Dundon is the owner of the NBA team Portland Trail Blazers and the NHL team Carolina Hurricanes, and was an early investor in pickleball.
The new funding brings total investment in Pickleball to $315 million, as investors continue to look to emerging sports as a place to park their money. The increase values Pickleball at $750 million, said a person familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the company’s valuation publicly.
The deal also includes the consolidation of several pickleball assets under the Pickleball Company umbrella, creating what the company calls the largest pickleball ecosystem to date.
Pickleball Inc. will take over Dundon’s previously owned portfolio of pickleball assets, including Pickleball Central, a leading pickleball equipment site founded in 2006. The portfolio also includes PickleballTournaments.com, the software that powers thousands of tournaments across all levels of play, and Just Courts, the pickleball court installer.
Pickleball’s newly combined business lines totaled more than $140 million in 2025 revenue, the company said.
MLP and PPA Tour CEO Connor Pardo said in a release that the new investment is a “shake-up day” for the rapidly growing business of pickleball at all levels.
“This investment will allow us to fully integrate the sport into one cohesive ecosystem, bringing together professional pickleball, consumer products, technology and media under one unified platform,” Pardot said.
Dundon and the Pardot family will remain major shareholders in the business following the investment.
Pickleball has exploded in popularity in recent years, with more than 24 million U.S. players expected to participate in 2025, making it the nation’s fastest-growing sport over the past three years, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association’s annual report.
At the professional level, the MLP and PPA tours have experienced significant growth, with combined sponsorship revenue of $30 million and top-line revenue of $60 million in 2025, according to the United Pickleball Association, which operates both leagues. The MLP and PPA Tours are projecting combined revenues of $74 million in 2026.
Pickleball Inc.’s new capital will be used to further integrate its pickleball business across all levels of play and create a streamlined pickleball ecosystem, the company said.
“This funding will allow us to focus on new and scalable opportunities, including content, media and infrastructure development to support our rapidly growing events,” MLP Commissioner Samin Odhwani said in a statement. “Continued and dynamic year-over-year growth data proves beyond doubt that pickleball is no longer an emerging sport, but is rapidly becoming America’s next Tier 1 sport.”
