Kim Olsson and former NHL professional Andreas Lilja, the founders of Skåne’s Padel Crew, become Padel Africa‘s new co-owners with their investment of two million kroner in the company. Padel Africa, which is a subsidiary of the Swedish-Danish Bambwa Group, is taking in 15 million SEK to launch the padel in a number of African countries and has so far secured 40 percent.
“We are planning a tour to present the project to more investors, the interest is great. With the consolidation of padel in Sweden, new opportunities have been created to develop the business and create new values. It requires focusing more on the community surrounding the sport” says Bambwa Group CEO Michael Mathiesen.
Padel Crew was acquired in the spring of 2021 by Padel United, which a year later merged with PDL Group, founded by, among others, Måns Zelmerlöw and Jonas Björkman. The PDL Padel United group thus became the largest in Sweden with over 100 padel halls.
Although demand has fallen somewhat since the pandemic’s record levels in Sweden, the sport continues to generate large sums. However, according to Michael Mathiesen, the business opportunities with padel are not exhausted even in large markets such as Sweden.
“So far it has been pure Klondike in Sweden. It has only been building new tracks and cashing in on bookings, they haven’t had much sense for business development. It is striking, for example, that padel is not yet a spectator sport in Sweden, there are no stars or idols, even though it is one of the biggest sports in the country” he says.
This article was originally published in Rapidus, with Swedish text by Emiliano Strauss.
Image is courtesy of Rickard Dighammar @ Helsingborg Dagblad
