Pro Climbing League (PCL), a professional climbing competition, has raised £3 million in a seed round led by Redrice Ventures. The International Bouldering Alliance, Active Partners and Accelerate Ventures also took part. The funding will be used to bring PCL to cities worldwide.
PCL runs a media and events platform that aims to give elite athletes the opportunity to earn a living competing on the world stage. Its format is a head-to-head knockout on two identical bouldering walls, where the first climber to the top wins, and it is built for live and broadcast audiences. Top competitors can earn as much as double the prize money currently available at existing climbing competitions. Each headline event will be supported by a multi-week residency across the climbing gyms of the host city, including a wildcard qualifier that gives amateurs a route onto the main stage, community circuit events, and athlete meet and greets.
PCL's inaugural competition took place in London in February 2026. It featured Olympic gold medallists Toby Roberts and Janja Garnbret, sold out in 24 hours with no marketing spend and drew ticket buyers from 27 countries. It was broadcast on Red Bull TV, and 43% of ticket buyers were female. Three competitions are scheduled to start the league's first season next year, in Berlin in January, Paris in February and London in March. Five events are planned for the 2028 season.
PCL was founded by Danaan Markey, a former German national team climbing coach and sports marketer at Patagonia, and Charlie Boscoe, a climbing veteran and commentator. Their co-founders are Neil Wyatt, former Head of Live Events at BBC Radio, and Eelco Bulten, an experienced startup and scaleup operator. PCL will use the funding to start its first season in 2027 and to deliver five events the season after, including in the US. It will also build out its commercial, content and operating infrastructure.
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.
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.
