Ahead of the 2025 season, the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has announced that Cordillera Investment Partners has made a $10million investment into the triathlon entity.
Cordillera was founded in 2014 to focus exclusively on “niche, non-correlated assets” and is headed by co-founders Agustin ‘Gus’ Araya, Chris Heller and Ashley Marks and based in California, USA.
Cordillera adds triathlon to portfolio
Cordillera boasts a wide-ranging portfolio of investments including within spirits inventory, boat marinas, wireless spectrum, media and entertainment and many other areas, and is now making a move into global sports.
“For over 10 years, it has been our mission to find the “nooks and crannies” within overlooked sectors of the global economy,” said Agustin “Gus” Araya, Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner at Cordillera.
“Sports is an industry we have had a thesis on for some time, and the Professional Triathletes Organisation is a prime example of an emerging league in a corner of the sports universe that is growing in popularity and fandom. We are thrilled to support Sam and the professional triathletes on their next phase of growth.”
PTO CEO Sam Renouf responded to the news by saying: “We are thrilled to have Cordillera’s support as we continue to elevate triathlon. Professional triathletes have seen the rise of our sport but the growth at the pro end hasn’t necessarily tracked the participation growth. Football, the NFL and tennis have been multibillion-dollar sports for a long time. Triathlon has really been in the dark ages from a commercial and broadcast perspective, and that’s why the PTO was formed.”
“Triathlon appeals to the executive and the professional class – which is a very attractive group to market to. The whole point of the PTO is that although you have this incredibly valuable market that is global, it is completely fragmented by the lack of a media product and season-long narrative to showcase our amazing athletes.”
Continued investment for PTO
PTO has been able to sustain a healthy stream of investment over recent years to push triathlon on a global scale – notably now with its big-money T100 World Tour.
In January 2020, the PTO announced it had secured funding from Sir Michael Moritz through his Crankstart Investments fund. A philanthropist of significant note, Moritz had sat on the boards of Google, PayPal, LinkedIn and Yahoo! among others and was the Forbes Magazine number one venture capitalist multiple time on its Midas List.
At the time, Moritz stated: “A major part of the attraction of the PTO is that, unlike every other sport, men and women compete for equal prize money and the athletes are co-owners of the business. This means that all participants will share, on an equal footing, in the PTO’s collective success.”
Further investment came at the beginning of the 2023 season when the PTO announced the successful completion of a Series B funding round with Divergent Investments, Warner Bros. Discovery and Moritz offering financial support to the governing organisation.
Francis Bento, Founder and CEO of Divergent Investments, explained at the time: “As an athlete-owned body, the Professional Triathletes Organisation represents the ideal investment into an ’emotional asset’ which aims at inspiring people to believe and give the best of themselves.”
In July 2023 we reported that leading global venture capital giant Eckuity were another investor in the PTO.
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