Racquet 360 raises $9 million to accelerate the development of padel in the United States

The American startup Racquet 360 , based at Key Biscayne in Florida has just lifted 9 million with investors specializing in sports. Its objective: to build a true ecosystem around padel in order to support the growth of the discipline in the United States.

A fundraising campaign to structure the padel ecosystem

Padel continues to attract investors in the United States. The startup Racquet 360 , founded in 2023 in Key Biscayne, Florida, announced a fundraising round 9 million with several funds specializing in sports, including Sunrise Padel City’s , Profluence Capital et Taktika Equity .

Behind the project is Emiliano Abramzon , a well-known serial entrepreneur in the tech ecosystem. He is notably the co-founder of nearpod , an educational technology company sold in 2021 to Renaissance Learning for approximately 650 million .

With Racquet 360, Abramzon wants to structure the development of padel in the United States by bringing together several building blocks of the industry within a single platform.

“I’ve always been passionate about sport and I wanted to try something different,” Emiliano Abramzon explained in an interview with Refresh Miami.

Four pillars to support the growth of padel

Racquet 360 is not limited to a single activity. The company develops four complementary branches intended to cover the various aspects of the padel industry.

The first is the National Padel League , an amateur team competition designed to structure the practice and attract new players.

The second one is RacquetX , a festival dedicated to racket sports organized in Fort Lauderdale, which brings together brands, professionals and enthusiasts around events and meetings.

The startup also develops Racket Central , a digital commerce platform dedicated to racket sports, and Racket Social Club , a project aimed at creating and operating padel facilities.

For Abramzon, the idea is to connect these different activities in order to support the growth of sport.

“Each business is very different. There’s the e-commerce platform, where we’re adding a lot of tools to improve the sector’s economy. The clubs are more of a physical model, but with many technological tools behind them. And even the event uses technology to organize meetings and connect industry players.”

South Florida, the laboratory of American padel

South Florida is gradually establishing itself as one of the nerve centers of padel in the United States. Clubs, competitions and new concepts are multiplying there, serving as a testing ground for entrepreneurs.

Some projects even break away from traditional frameworks, with, for example, proposals for fields installed on the roofs of parking lots in Miami Beach At the same time, competitions like the Reserve Cup attract attention with prizes exceeding one million dollars .

For Abramzon, Miami already plays a central role in the rise of American padel.

"Today, Miami is the true Mecca of padel in the United States. I estimate that about 50% of the country's players are here, and the concentration of clubs is unparalleled."
Reserve Cup Miami boasts record prize money of $1,7 million

A sport that is still relatively unknown on a national scale

Despite this local momentum, padel remains largely unknown in much of the United States. But for Racquet 360, it's only a matter of time.

"Today, padel is almost non-existent in mainstream America. But we believe it will experience strong growth in the country, and we want to be positioned to grow with this sport."

With this fundraising, Racquet 360 intends to position itself at the heart of this expansion and contribute to structuring an American market that is still under construction.

Maceo ZERHAT

Maceo Zerhat discovered padel in 2020 in Savigny-sur-Clairis, Burgundy. He contributed to the club's expansion by bringing his energy and curiosity. Padel Magazinehe transmits his Padel"mania" by skillfully bouncing on all the latest news about your favorite sport!