Pro Climbing League raises £3m led by Redrice Ventures and Active Partners
This article covers Pro Climbing League, a media and events startup, which has raised £3m in a seed funding round led by Redrice Ventures to expand its city-focused professional climbing events and media platform internationally. The funding will be used to launch its first full season in 2027, scale commercial and content operations and deliver a five-event season in 2028 including dates in the US, supporting elite climbers and city-based climbing communities.
Pro Climbing League has raised £3m in a seed funding round led by Redrice Ventures to expand its city-focused professional climbing events and media platform internationally. The cash will be used to launch its first full season in 2027, scale commercial and content operations and deliver a five-event season in 2028, including dates in the US.
Why it matters
The funding underlines a growing commercialisation of climbing as a spectator sport. PCL’s model aims to give elite climbers a clearer earning pathway through larger prize pools and broadcast-friendly event formats, addressing a longstanding gap between participation and professional opportunity in the sport. Its successful London debut — sold out in 24 hours without paid marketing and broadcast on Red Bull TV — provides early evidence of audience demand.
Inside the product
PCL runs a media and events business built around a head-to-head knockout format on two identical bouldering walls where the first climber to the top wins. The format is designed for live and broadcast audiences and is supported by multi-week residencies in host-city climbing gyms. Those residencies include a wildcard qualifier that gives amateurs a route onto the main stage, community circuit events and athlete meet-and-greets.
The league’s inaugural event in London in February 2026 featured high-profile athletes such as Olympic gold medallists Toby Roberts and Janja Garnbret, drew ticket buyers from 27 countries and was 43% female. PCL plans three competitions to start its first season in 2027 — Berlin in January, Paris in February and London in March — with five events scheduled for 2028.
Who are the investors?
The £3m seed round was led by Redrice Ventures and included the International Bouldering Alliance, Active Partners and Accelerate Ventures. The capital will fund PCL’s first full season in 2027, international expansion including US dates for the 2028 season, and the build-out of commercial, content and operational infrastructure.
In the announcement, Alistair Brownlee, Associate Partner at Redrice Ventures, said:
Indoor climbing has gone from a subculture to a global phenomenon, with mass participation, Olympic status and growing media recognition. Last year I was at PCL's first London event, which sold out and brought world-class athletes together with global media distribution. Today's climbers don't just want to take part in their sport. They want to compete in it and watch it, and that's an audience with real commercial value. A league built for both the climbing community and its athletes is a hugely exciting prospect, and we're delighted to back Danaan and the team as they take it to the world stage.
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Founder perspective
PCL was founded by Danaan Markey and Charlie Boscoe. Markey is a former German national team climbing coach and worked in sports marketing at Patagonia. Boscoe is a climbing veteran and commentator. Co-founders include Neil Wyatt, formerly Head of Live Events at BBC Radio, and Eelco Bulten, an experienced startup operator.
In the announcement, Danaan Markey, Co-founder & CEO at Pro Climbing League, said:
Climbing deserves a league worthy of the athletes, the audience and the culture. There are few sports with such committed and passionate fans. Climbing has been crying out for an easy-to-follow format with entertainment value, held in the cities where climbers actually live. London proved the appetite is there, and with our investors’ backing we’re excited to take PCL global and bring a new level of connection and competition to the sport.
The bigger picture
PCL’s raise sits at the intersection of live events, specialised sports media and community-driven grassroots pathways. The model mirrors trends in other sports where condensed, broadcast-friendly formats and city-based events unlock sponsorship, ticketing and streaming revenue. For UK and European investors, the opportunity is not just rights and tickets but a package of content, community programming and athlete-centric economics.
The deal also highlights a wider push to professionalise niche sports as they gain mainstream exposure through the Olympics and global streaming platforms. If PCL can replicate the engagement it saw in London across European and US cities, it will be an early test case for how startups build sustainable professional circuits around participation-led sports.
They've invested in Pro Climbing League
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