Surj leads £30m investment in T100 to bolster Saudi Olympic ambitions
Saudi Arabia’s Surj Sports Investment has backed T100 to be the “growth engine” for triathlon after leading a £30m funding round in its parent organisation, the PTO.
Surj, an arm of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) with stakes in Dazn, the Professional Fighters League and Kings League, was the biggest backer of the PTO in its Series C funding.
Sir Michael Moritz, one of the early funders of the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO), niche investor Cordillera and multi-sport backer Verance Capital also joined the round, which is said to total in the region of $40m (£30m).
The PTO runs the T100 Triathlon World Tour, which features some of the sport’s biggest names competing over its unique 100km format in well-known locations around the world.
This month, World Triathlon also floated the possibility of pushing for the T100 format to be added to the programme for future Olympic Games.
Saudi Arabia, which is likely to stage a T100 race in future seasons, wants to host the Olympics for the first time in 2036 or 2040.
Surj CEO Danny Townsend said: “We’ve been looking at triathlon for a long time as a sport that we felt was right for growth and investment and also been looking at the landscape and seeing what T100 has been doing over the last 18 months.
“As we assessed the marketplace, we saw T100 as being the series that we felt was going to be the real growth engine for the sport.”
Other shareholders in the PTO include Warner Bros Discovery, which broadcasts the made-for-TV races on its global network, which includes TNT Sports in the UK.
Surj, Saudi, triathlon and Olympic ambitions
Closure of the Series C funding round comes ahead of the London leg of the T100 tour next month. All events feature elite men’s and women’s races as well as mass participation.
Surj boss Townsend told City PM last month that developing the sports landscape in Saudi Arabia and driving activity among the population were key criteria for investments.
“The PTO is redefining endurance sport for modern audiences – blending elite racing with inclusive, mass participation formats, global storytelling and community engagement,” he said.
“We’re proud to support this next phase of growth and to explore how the model can inspire more people across the region to get active.”
Townsend added: “Saudi Arabia is a growing sporting nation and has ambitions to one day host the Olympic Games. Triathlon being a key Olympic sport, we’re really looking to try and embed ourselves into those sports to enable people to participate and one day aspire to be an Olympic athlete.”
Olympic triathlon distance is roughly half that of T100 races, so there is optimism that a long-course discipline could be adopted in future.
It also lends itself well to mass participation, something the International Olympic Committee is keen to incorporate in the Games after a successful public marathon in Paris last summer.
Saudi backing for the T100 tour cements its presence in the Middle East, where it already stages races in Dubai and holds its season finale in Qatar.
Other locations on the calendar include San Francisco, Vancouver, the French Riviera, Valencia and Wollongong in Australia.