The Waterman League, known for its professional paddlesurfing racing and surfing league, has announced it has closed a Series A round of financing. The efforts were led by private equity firm AID Partners (AID), LLC and Darren Shaw, a Hong Kong based co-investor: both entities will join the Company’s board of directors. The proceeds of this investment will be used to expand the Waterman League’s Paddlesurf World Tour events established in 2009.
In conjunction with this new investment, the Waterman League has established the Association of Paddlesurf Professionals (APP) and aligned the two disciplines of paddlesurfing under a new “APP World Tour”, which will deliver 8 events in 2017 in Oahu (Hawaii), Maui (Hawaii), Tokyo (Japan), Scharbeutz (Germany), New York (NY), San Francisco (CA), Hainan (China) and the Canary Islands (Spain).
“We have passionately endeavoured to build the Waterman League with integrity and authenticity and I am extremely proud to have attracted investors of this calibre and to begin working with our new partners to strengthen and expand our business,” said Tristan Boxford, Chief Executive Officer of the Waterman League.” Paddlesurfing is one of the world’s fastest-growing participatory sports and we feel that the APP World Tour will continue to appeal to a rapidly growing number of fans and professional athletes while embracing the mass participation component of our events.
“We are particularly keen to help grow the sport of paddlesurfing in Asia,” said Kelvin Wu, Chairman of AID. “We also see expansion of the event formats and increasing digital media coverage of the APP World Tour as having enormous potential.”
“I have been impressed by the Waterman League and what Tristan has achieved with limited resources,” noted Darren Shaw. “He has created an exciting competitive platform and attracted a dynamic group of young athletes for this relatively new sport, highlighting the timely attributes of adopting healthy pursuits, being out in the elements, and bringing awareness to our waterways and oceans. I feel every ingredient for success is in place.”
