Apollo leads $225 million investment in Dallas’-based Pickleball Inc.

Apollo Sports Capital is leading a $225 million investment in Dallas-based Pickleball Inc., the new parent company of the Dallas-based Carvana Professional Pickleball Association Tour and Major League Pickleball.

The investment from Apollo Sports Capital, Apollo Global Management’s newly created sports fund, marks the latest infusion of capital into the rapidly growing paddle sport. In a news release, Pickleball Inc. said its newly combined verticals generated more than $140 million last year, setting several growth records for what is widely regarded as the nation’s fastest-growing sport, played by more than 24 million in the U.S. last year.

Early pickleball investor Tom Dundon, the Dallas billionaire who is also an owner of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes,  and Connor Pardoe, who founded the PPA Tour in 2019, will remain majority shareholders of the business. Samin Odhwani, the MLP commissioner, told Sports Business Journal last year that the joint entity of the PPA Tour and MLP was on track to be profitable by 2027.

Pickleball Inc. will manage a comprehensive network of professional leagues, digital platforms, merchandise and infrastructure.

In a statement, Pardoe, who is also Pickleball Inc.’s CEO, called the investment “a seismic day for the rapidly growing business of pickleball at all levels. This investment allows us to fully integrate the sport into one cohesive ecosystem – uniting professional pickleball, consumer goods, technology, and media under a single, unified platform … At its core, this is still about building and delivering the culture, fun, and community that define pickleball’s DNA.”

Pickleball Inc.’s business verticals now encompass all levels of the sport: professional play (PPA Tour and MLP); Pickleball Central, the world’s largest pickleball retailer; Pickleball Play Solutions, the software that powers PPA and MLP events; court construction; media; and investments in Picklr, the leading indoor pickleball facility brand.

“The continued and dynamic year-over-year growth data has proven without a doubt that pickleball is no longer an emerging sport, and is instead quickly becoming the next tier one sport in America,” Odhwani said in a statement. “This capital raise will allow us to expand our focus into new and scalable opportunities like content, media, and the development of infrastructure to support our fast-growing events.”