Padel House announces expansion with new strategic investment

From left: Amrith de Soysa, Haresh de Soysa, Shamal Perera, Ranil Fernando, Mahela Jayawardene

• Sri Lanka’s padel pioneer scales up with new momentum and a vision that goes well beyond the court

Padel House, the company that first brought padel to Sri Lanka and has since built the sport’s most established presence in Colombo, has announced the entry of two new investors: Mahela Jayawardene, the former Sri Lanka cricket captain, and Trade Promoters Limited (TPL), a diversified business group with commercial interests across Sri Lanka and the Maldives. 

The investment round closes a formative chapter for the business and marks the beginning of a structured phase of national expansion.

Co-founder Rajeev Rajapaksa, one of the sport’s few certified coaches in the country, will exit his shareholding as part of the transaction. He will remain involved with Padel House in a coaching capacity. Shamal Perera continues as co-founder and will lead the company through its next phase.

An integrated model at CR&FC

The company’s most substantial near-term undertaking is the transformation of its CR&FC facility in Colombo. Two additional courts are being added to the site, and a curated selection of wellness and lifestyle partners will come together to create what will be Sri Lanka’s first fully integrated padel and wellness destination. The facility will bring together a Pilates studio under Barressential, a café and coffee concept by Crust & Crumble, a children’s play area, and a premium recovery centre operated by The Recovery Room, offering ice baths, infrared sauna, compression therapy, sports massage, dry needling, and hyperbaric oxygen chambers.

The thinking behind the model is well supported by experience in established padel markets such as Spain, Sweden, and the UAE, where operators have built suceesful businesses by creating destinations — places where the court is the anchor but the broader experience is the draw. The CR&FC development is conceived along those lines, bringing sport, wellness, and community into a single, coherent offering.

Network depth and geographic reach

The infrastructure build-out extends across multiple locations. Playing surfaces at the company’s Claessen Place courts are being fully upgraded this year, and a third Colombo site is in the planning stages, with an opening expected later this year. A new court in Ahangama is scheduled to open in May, representing the company’s first move into the southern coastal market. Further expansion to locations across Sri Lanka are at an advanced stage.

Underpinning the network is a proprietary mobile application that serves as the primary booking and management platform across all locations. Built to scale with the business, the platform is designed to onboard new sites and will evolve over time to include player engagement, rankings and performance features — reflecting the company’s view that the long-term opportunity in padel extends well beyond court rental.

Private court installations

Beyond its commercial operations, Padel House has also established a complementary business designing and building private padel courts at homes and villas. Drawing on the company’s expertise in court construction and design, the offering has found a niche market within Sri Lanka’s premium residential segment, adding a further revenue stream while extending the sport’s footprint beyond commercial venues.

Strategic rationale

Padel House co-founder Shamal Perera outlined the thinking behind the new partnerships:

“From the outset, the goal was to introduce padel to Sri Lanka and build a strong community around the sport. What we’ve seen over the past two years has been encouraging; rapid adoption and a growing player base across all segments. Bringing in partners like Mahela and Trade Promoters Ltd reflects a shared vision for where this sport is headed. This new phase is about scaling what we’ve built, expanding access, and taking padel to the next level across the country.”

Mahela Jayawardene, commenting on his entry into the business, noted:

“Padel is one of the most accessible and enjoyable sports I’ve come across. It’s easy to pick up, highly social, and provides a great workout at the same time. What Padel House has built over a short period is impressive, not just in terms of infrastructure, but in the strength of the community around the sport. I’m excited to be part of this journey and to support its growth across Sri Lanka.”

Market context

Padel has been among the most closely watched developments in global sport over the past decade. Originating in Latin America and gaining its strongest commercial foothold in Spain, the sport has since expanded rapidly across Europe and the Gulf, attracting significant private investment, professional league structures, and growing attention from international sports bodies regarding its Olympic potential. At its core, padel is a deeply social sport; one that is genuinely easy to pick up, naturally inclusive, and built around the kind of shared experience that tends to create strong, self-sustaining communities. It is these qualities, as much as the sport itself, that have driven its remarkable global growth.

In Sri Lanka, Padel House has spent two years cultivating precisely that kind of community. With a broadening court network, a growing base of committed players, and now the backing of investors who bring both sporting credibility and commercial reach, the company is well placed to shape the next chapter of the sport’s development in Sri Lanka.