Padel club operator Rocket Padel has raised €8 million, about £6.8 million, to fund two large new London clubs, in Shepherd’s Bush and next to East Croydon station. The operator already runs four UK clubs. It calls the UK its biggest growth market and says it is open to bringing in further strategic partners.
Rocket Padel runs five clubs in Denmark and four in the UK, at Battersea Power Station, Beckton, Ilford and Bristol. Its first Spanish club is being built near Marbella. The round values the business at what the company describes as an undisclosed eight-figure sum. City AM describes it as an international club operator, and the announcement makes no mention of franchising, unlike the sports and leisure brands recruiting UK operators.
Two London clubs built around hospitality
The East Croydon club, due to open in early 2027, will sit next to the station and Boxpark with nine courts, a cafe and bar, and flexible social space. The Shepherd’s Bush site, in a former film studio, will have 11 courts, golf simulator pods, and food and drink. No opening date has been given for it. Both are designed to give more room to hospitality and events than the earlier clubs. Rocket Padel says court time at its Battersea Power Station flagship is 95% booked.
Courts as one source of income among several
The company presents padel as the anchor of a wider leisure and hospitality offer, with coaching, food, drinks and corporate events alongside court hire. Morten Bugge, chairman and lead investor, said: “Our focus is on locations where repeat play, hospitality and corporate demand can support several revenue streams within the same venue.” Sebastian Gordon, co-founder, said: “People come to play, but they also come to meet friends, entertain clients and spend time together.”
The company names Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Google among the businesses that have booked its clubs for corporate events. Bugge said the round “gives us the capacity to invest in larger destinations and build on the operating experience we have developed”. The company has not said how the money will be split between the two London sites or how many jobs they will create.
A crowded padel market in the UK
Rocket Padel is expanding into a sector that has drawn several models at once. Some operators, like Rocket Padel, fund and run their own clubs. Others, such as Vida Del Padel, are growing through franchising. Multi-sport operators are adding courts too: Propel reported on 13 October 2026 that Powerleague’s full-year turnover and EBITDA rose, helped by its padel rollout.
Rocket Padel says it is looking for further sites in London and beyond. Bugge said: “The UK is central to our next phase of growth.” He added that the company is “open to bringing in additional strategic partners where they can help us accelerate that opportunity”, though strategic investment and the operator partnerships offered by brands recruiting in the UK are different things.
