Serial entrepreneur’s R3 Sport focuses on padel tennis
Jonathan Rowland has announced the launch of his latest enterprise, R3 Sport, which has been established to invest in the sports and entertainment sectors, with a particular focus on the fast-growing sport of padel tennis.
The businessman, who is a co-founder of Redwood Bank, is working on the tournament’s conception with R3 Sport – of which he is chairman – and the company has raised capital from private investors.
Securing credit facilities worth several million pounds, the R3 Sport brand will deliver its strategy of building padel tennis venues, work closely with padel brands to sell merchandise, organise tournaments and manage elite athletes in the sport.
The private investors include co-founder Nikhil Mohindra and Sam Jones, both Team GB players.
In its first 12 months, R3 Sport plans to start building two padel tennis venues in the UK that will have between 16 and 20 courts. There are currently over 90,000 people in the UK who play padel, and R3 Sport says this number has increased by more than 1,300% since 2020.
With only around 350 padel courts in the UK, this is expected to grow to 1,000 within the next two years and the number of UK players is predicted to reach 600,000 by the end of 2026.
