The Padel Club, which owns and runs state-of-the-art padel centres around the UK, has raised £3m to accelerate plans to triple its footprint.
The Wilmslow-founded company raised the money from NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance, which is managed by PXN Ventures as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II).
Earlier this month, The Padel Club opened the first of eight new planned sites in Handforth, Cheshire, with clubs in Chester, Liverpool, Knutsford, Sheffield, Cardiff, Brighton and Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham set to follow. This will take the total number of individual courts the company operates to 85.
Along with its flagship locations at TraffordCity and Gloucester Quays, The Padel Club’s wider portfolio also includes clubs at Cheltenham, Handforth Dean and Wilmslow.
This latest fundraise marks the most recent backing from PXN Ventures and NPIF II. In 2024, the leisure operator became the first Cheshire-based business to receive funding from the NPIF II fund.
Since then, the business has been capitalising on padel’s rising popularity by providing court hire as well as expert coaching.
According to data from the Lawn Tennis Association, 860,000 adults and juniors played padel at least once in 2025, which is more than double 2024’s count, making padel one of the fastest growing sports in Britain.
Padel’s growing appeal is also reflected in The Padel Club’s own success to date. Last year’s expansion into Trafford and Cheltenham, combined with strong performance across the club’s existing locations, drove approximately 100% revenue growth in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period last year.
Kris Ball, CEO and founder of the Padel Club, said: “Padel is experiencing extraordinary growth across the UK, and our ambition is to ensure more people can access the sport through high-quality facilities in key locations. The continued support from PXN Ventures and NPIF II has been instrumental in helping us grow our network of clubs, and this latest investment will enable us to build on that progress, following the recent opening of the club at Handforth Dean and ahead of launches in Chester, Liverpool, Knutsford, Sheffield, Cardiff, Brighton and Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham.”
Louise Chapman, Investment Director at PXN Ventures, said: “The Padel Club was our first NPIF II investment and since then the business has continued to grow from strength to strength, opening new clubs up and down the country and encouraging more people to play padel. This latest investment reflects our commitment to the business and its UK-wide ambitions and highlights the breadth of growing, entrepreneurial businesses we can support through NPIF II.”
Sue Barnard, Senior Investment Manager at British Business Bank, said: “Padel has quickly become one of the UK’s fastest-growing sports and The Padel Club is a strong example of an ambitious Northern business responding to that demand. Having previously invested in the business through the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II, it highlights the fund’s ability to continue supporting businesses as they grow, while demonstrating how access to finance can help ambitious businesses across the North realise their potential and create new opportunities in growing markets.”
The £660m Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II) covers the entire North of England and provides loans from £25k to £2m and equity investment up to £5m to help a range of small and medium sized businesses to start up, scale up or stay ahead.
The purpose of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II is to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses across the North of England. The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II will increase the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for the North's smaller businesses, providing funds to firms that might otherwise not receive investment and help to break down barriers in access to finance.
