Pro Climbing League raises GBP 3.2M seed for a three-city European season
Pro Climbing League raised GBP 3.2M (about EUR 3.85M) in a seed round led by Redrice Ventures, with Active Partners, Accelerate Ventures and International Bouldering Alliance, to stage three events in Berlin, Paris and London in 2027 and lift prize money to GBP 50,000 per event.
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Pro Climbing League has raised a GBP 3.2M (about EUR 3.85M at xe.com’s 14 Nov 2026 rate) seed round led by Redrice Ventures to run a three-event 2027 season in Berlin, Paris and London and lift prize money to GBP 50,000 per event, according to Tech Funding News and Dealroom.
A GBP 3.2M seed from sports funds and a gym operator
Pro Climbing League (PCL), a standalone professional circuit of city-based indoor climbing competitions, announced the round on Friday 13 November 2026. City AM and Tech Funding News carried it first, both at 09:00 UK time, followed by Brit Brief and Dealroom the same day. Tech Funding News and Dealroom name Redrice Ventures as lead investor, and City AM lists it among the investors.
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Active Partners, which holds stakes in Rapha and Finisterre, joins alongside Accelerate Ventures, a London sports fund launched in 2023 that backed Seat Unique and Padel Social Club. The fourth investor is International Bouldering Alliance, a European gym group backed by Verlinvest and Family Trust Investor, according to Tech Funding News. Valuation and revenue were not disclosed.
According to Tech Funding News, the money pays for a three-event 2027 season (Berlin on 23 January, Paris on 13 February, London on 20 March), five events in 2028 including at least one in the US, with Asia under consideration, and multi-year event commitments for climbers. Prize money rises by more than 40% to GBP 50,000 per event in 2027. A content channel about the athletes comes next.
Four founders from coaching, commentary, live radio and startups
CEO Danaan Markey is the German national team climbing coach and a former sports marketer at Patagonia. He co-founded PCL with commentator Charlie Boscoe, Neil Wyatt, formerly head of live events at BBC Radio, and startup operator Eelco Bulten (Tech Funding News, Dealroom).
The proof of concept was a debut event in Greenwich, London, earlier in 2026. Its 2,500 seats sold out in under 24 hours (Tech Funding News, City AM). Toby Roberts, the reigning British Olympic champion, competed (City AM), and Red Bull broadcast the event as a major partner (Dealroom). Red Bull does not appear among the investors.
When tickets for the 2027 season went on sale in early November, 4,000 sold on the first day, Markey told Tech Funding News.
The business model is simple for now. Markey told the same outlet that the league sells tickets and sponsorship places. The ambition he described is wider: “The ultimate goal is to be that global property that […] every climber in the world looks towards.”
Climbing gyms at USD 3.8bn, and a GBP 36bn claim with no source
Two market figures circulate, and they measure different things. IMARC Group puts the global climbing gym market at USD 3.8bn in 2025, reaching USD 8.8bn by 2034, a 9.41% CAGR over 2026-2034 (report last updated 16 July 2026). City AM cites an amateur climbing market of about GBP 36bn growing 15-20% a year, and gives no underlying source for it.
The first number counts gym revenue worldwide. The second is broader and cannot be checked as published. The narrower figure carries the argument on its own. On IMARC’s numbers, the gym market more than doubles by 2034, and every new member is a potential ticket buyer for a league at seed stage. Climbing joined the Olympic program at Tokyo 2020, which put the sport on a global stage once every four years. A league fills the years in between.
On Sesamers’ own fundraising data, the round sits between two reference points. Hoopers Club, a basketball fan engagement company, raised a EUR 2.05M seed in 2024, with no lead recorded. Unit1 Studio raised GBP 20M from Balderton Capital in September 2026 for live avatar concerts. PCL’s GBP 3.2M sits much closer to the first, which fits a company with one sold-out event behind it.
A sports league where the US is the expansion market
For once, the US comes second. PCL’s 2027 calendar is entirely European, and its first US date is planned for 2028 (Tech Funding News).
Three of the four investors are funds with sports and outdoor consumer portfolios. Redrice Ventures counts Andy Murray and Alistair Brownlee as associate partners and was an early backer of Castore (City AM, Brit Brief). Active Partners and Accelerate Ventures sit behind Rapha, Finisterre, Seat Unique and Padel Social Club.
Brownlee, quoted by Brit Brief and Tech Funding News, said: “Today’s climbers don’t just want to take part in their sport.” The wager is that the people who climb after work will also pay to watch the best do it. A gym group on the investor list puts the league one step from those people every week.
Berlin on 23 January is the first test away from London
Greenwich filled 2,500 seats in under a day (Tech Funding News, City AM). Berlin and Paris are the first test of that demand outside London, and the 4,000 first-day tickets reported by Tech Funding News do not show how sales split across the three cities. Prize money at GBP 50,000 per event and multi-year commitments are what let climbers plan a season around PCL.
“Climbing deserves a league worthy of the athletes, the audience and the culture,” Markey said, quoted by City AM and Brit Brief. The 2027 calendar gives climbers three fixed dates in three European cities, and Berlin is the first of them.
