Pro Climbing League raises £3.2M seed to build Europe's first independent professional climbing circuit

Pro Climbing League (London, UK) has raised £3.2 million (approximately €3.8 million) in a seed round led by Redrice Ventures, with Active Partners, Accelerate Ventures (a London-based sports investment fund), and the International Bouldering Alliance (a European gym group backed by Verlinvest and a family trust) participating. The company runs professional indoor climbing events independently of the Olympic federation system — an approach designed to let athletes compete under different formats and rules than the World Federation mandates, and to let the company control its commercial and media rights directly.

The founding team brings together Danaan Markey (CEO, former German national team climbing coach and Patagonia sports marketer), Charlie Boscoe (climbing commentator), Neil Wyatt (former head of live events at BBC Radio), and Eelco Bulten (startup operator). The combination is deliberate: event production credibility from BBC, sport knowledge from national team coaching, and media reach from climbing commentary.

The £3.2M funds a three-event 2027 season — Berlin (23 January), Paris (13 February), London (20 March) — with £50,000 prize money per event, and sets up a 2028 expansion to five events including one in the United States.

The demand signal

The company's February 2026 pilot event in London was the first data point: 2,500 seats sold out in under a day, with 43% female ticket buyers across 27 countries. That demographic breadth is commercially significant — female ticket buyers and international reach are both unusual for a nascent professional sport event and attractive to sponsors who struggle with the homogeneity of traditional sports audiences.

For the 2027 season, 4,000 tickets sold in one day across three cities suggests that the pilot's sellout was not an anomaly driven by novelty. Indoor climbing participation has expanded significantly since the sport's Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020; there is now a generation of recreational climbers who understand competition formats and want professional events to watch, not just participate in.

Why independent of the federation

Professional climbing exists primarily through the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) circuit, which controls the Olympic pathway and sets event formats. IFSC events are well-attended, but athletes compete under federation rules and clubs have limited commercial flexibility. Pro Climbing League's independence from the IFSC allows it to design events differently — shorter formats, different scoring, more athlete-focused presentation — and to own the broadcast and sponsorship rights outright.

The International Bouldering Alliance, which co-invested, represents a gym network with direct access to the competitive recreational climbing community. That co-investment is a commercial partnership as much as a financial one: IBA gyms are where the climbers who would buy tickets train and compete.

Redrice Ventures, which led, invests across consumer and sports businesses. Its backing from Alistair Brownlee — a double Olympic triathlon gold medallist — signals a thesis that climbing, like triathlon, is a sport where participation-led growth can support professional competition infrastructure once the audience is large enough.