Pro Climbing League (PCL), a professional climbing competition platform, has raised £3.2 million in a Seed funding round. The round was led by Redrice Ventures, with participation from The International Bouldering Alliance, Active Partners and Accelerate Ventures.
The company aims to make competitive climbing a professional sport and bring it to a wider global audience. The investment is also among the first examples of institutional funding going into a climbing competition or media business rather than climbing gyms.
Founded by climbing enthusiasts, PCL wants to give professional athletes more opportunities to earn money through competitions. It also aims to bring live climbing events to fans and spectators in major cities around the world.
PCL has introduced a new competition format designed for both live audiences and television viewers. Two climbers compete against each other on identical bouldering walls in a knockout format. The first climber to reach the top wins.
The league held its first competition in London in February 2026. The event featured some of the world’s top climbers, including Olympic gold medallists Toby Roberts from Great Britain and Janja Garnbret from Slovenia.
The event sold out within 24 hours without spending money on marketing. It attracted ticket buyers from 27 countries, including the US, Canada and New Zealand. PCL also partnered with Red Bull TV to deliver a new broadcast experience for competitive climbing.
With the new funding, PCL plans to expand its competition schedule. The league will hold three events for its first season in 2027, starting in Berlin in January, followed by Paris in February and London in March. It plans to increase the number of competitions to five in 2028.
PCL aims to connect professional climbers with the growing community of amateur athletes, local climbing gyms and people who enjoy climbing as a hobby.
Bouldering is the most popular type of climbing, with 92% of climbing gyms offering the sport and 86% of climbers participating in indoor climbing every week. The wider climbing market is valued at €44 billion and is growing by 15-20% each year. Climbing also has strong female participation, with women making up 40% of the sport’s participants. At PCL’s first event, 43% of ticket buyers were female.
Although climbing became an Olympic sport at Tokyo 2020, professional athletes still face financial challenges. Winners of major international competitions typically receive around £6,000 in prize money. As a result, many top climbers need second jobs to support themselves.
Traditional climbing competitions are also often held in remote locations and follow lengthy formats that can be difficult for new audiences to understand. PCL wants to make the sport more accessible through shorter competitions and events designed for spectators.
Alongside its main competitions, PCL will organise activities across climbing gyms in each host city. These programmes will include wildcard qualifiers, giving amateur climbers a chance to compete on the main stage, community events and opportunities for fans to meet professional athletes.
The company also plans to invest in high-quality event production, digital content and creator partnerships. It will work with well-known athletes and brands, including Red Bull, to attract more fans and grow the sport.
PCL was founded by Danaan Markey, a former German national team climbing coach and sports marketer at Patagonia, and Charlie Boscoe, an experienced climber and sports commentator. The other co-founders are Neil Wyatt, former Head of Live Events at BBC Radio, and Eelco Bulten, an experienced startup and scaleup operator.
Danaan Markey, CEO and co-founder at PCL, 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.
“This is one of the first times institutional capital has backed a climbing event or media brand, beyond investment in climbing gyms. We’re reshaping the industry and building a new home for climbing that supports athletes and fans that love the sport; and fits the scale, talent, passion and strength of community synonymous with climbing.”
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.”
PCL will use the new funding to launch its first season in 2027. It plans to organise five competitions in 2028, including events in the US. The company will work with leading venues, improve event production and bring top professional climbers on board to take part in the competitions.
The funding will also help PCL strengthen its business operations, marketing and content teams. It aims to build a strong sponsorship network and attract more audiences to its events. These efforts will support the league’s expansion into new international markets.
