London-listed VVV Sports, believed to be the only public pure-play vehicle for investing in padel and pickleball, is planning to join Nasdaq later this year.

The company, founded by British entrepreneur Jonathan Rowland, will retain its place on the Aquis stock exchange but is seeking a dual listing as it expands its US footprint.

Before then, it intends to raise around £5m through a placing of new shares next month. Its plans for VVV USA include a padel centre of excellence in New York, taking the R3 Bullpadel Cup to the US, and launching a betting and prediction markets business, VVV Sport Book.

“We’ll be out talking to investors. We’ve got a good soft commitment from a number of different people from the industry, family offices, a couple of hedge funds, some interesting people coming in who are sports enthusiasts,” Rowland told City AM.

“We’re going to step up to Nasdaq because our focus is going to be pushed towards the US heavily. We are launching our US company to start looking at the opportunity for padel. We’re looking at a big project in New York, a padel venue with an interesting partner there. 

“We are going to look at holding our own events in the US, so R3 Bullpadel Cup – we’re looking at spinning that into the USA, and maybe creating a mini tour there.

“We think there’s an opportunity to work with partners and build several venues in the US, start to run tournaments, start to do everything that’s happening elsewhere, but it’s really the beginning.”

Amazon doc, Hexagon Cup and pickleball plans

VVV Sports comprises several verticals in niche racket sports, including operating tournaments, managing players, and licensing brands including Bullpadel for retail and distribution.

It is also building one of the world’s largest padel facilities in the world in Abu Dhabi, and is in talks with Amazon Prime Video over a Drive to Survive-style padel docuseries.

It is considering acquiring an expansion team in the Hexagon Cup, which has teams owned by Andy Murray, Anthony Joshua, Rafael Nadal and other celebrities.

In pickleball it recently acquired 100 per cent of Topseries Pickleball, the sport’s leading circuit outside of North America.

Padel continues to enjoy huge growth, with an estimated 30m players worldwide – a figure rising by 15-20 per cent each year, and by more than 50 per cent in the less mature US market.

Pickleball has historically enjoyed a stronger foothold in the US and has an estimated 50m players globally.

Rowland, the founder of Redwood Bank and son of renowned financier David Rowland, launched R3 in 2024.