Product Update

Is Active Away Still in Business? (2026 Update)

Is Active Away from Dragons’ Den still around in 2026? The deal it made, the dragons who invested, and where to buy Active Away today.

Dragons' Den IndexUpdated 27 March 20266 min read

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A tennis holiday company pitching to a panel of investors sounds like a hard sell. Sport holidays are seasonal, weather dependent and competing against every package operator in Europe. Active Away made the case anyway back in series 14, and more than a decade on from launch and years past its Den appearance, the company is not just surviving, it has expanded well beyond the sport that got it started. The short answer is yes, Active Away is still in business.

The short answer

Active Away is still trading and still running holidays. Founded in 2006, the company has hosted more than 8,000 people on tennis breaks over its history, and it has since added padel, pickleball and ski holidays to its programme. That kind of expansion, rather than contraction, is usually a good sign for a hospitality business years after its television appearance.

The pitch

Active Away appeared in series 14, episode 8, in the Sports & Outdoors category. The founders asked for 25,000 pounds in exchange for 20 percent of the company, positioning the business as a way for tennis players of mixed abilities to combine coaching with a proper holiday in destinations across Europe.

Travel and hospitality pitches can be a tough sit for Dragons who worry about thin margins and seasonal cash flow. But a niche sports holiday brand with a loyal, repeat customer base is a different proposition to a generic package tour operator, and that distinction seems to have been the difference here.

The deal

Peter Jones backed Active Away for the full 25,000 pounds asked, at the 20 percent equity on the table. The deal was formally signed in June 2017 after due diligence, and it is worth noting the equity later stepped down to 15 percent once Jones had recouped his original investment, a structure that rewards early risk without permanently over diluting the founders.

Jones has a long track record in consumer facing businesses, and a holiday brand built around a specific, well organised customer experience fits a pattern he has backed successfully before.

Growth beyond tennis

The most telling sign of a business in good health is expansion into adjacent categories, and Active Away has done exactly that. The company partnered with Game4Padel in 2023 to run padel holidays and short breaks at a flagship Spanish resort, and it now offers hosted adult and family holidays across tennis, padel and pickleball, alongside ski holidays and UK based doubles clinics.

Padel in particular has grown rapidly as a participation sport in the UK and Europe in recent years, and a company that already had the operational infrastructure for tennis holidays, coaching staff, venue relationships, group logistics, was well placed to move into it quickly rather than build from scratch.

Why sports holiday operators are a tough but durable category

Holiday companies live and die on repeat bookings, and a niche sports operator has an advantage over a generic package operator here, its customers are hobbyists who plan their year around the sport, not once off holidaymakers comparing prices on a travel site. That loyalty is a big part of why a business built around 2006 era tennis breaks is still standing, and still able to launch new destinations and sports, two decades on.

It also explains why the company chose to add sports rather than reinvent itself entirely. Padel, pickleball and skiing all share the same underlying customer, someone who wants a genuine sporting holiday with proper coaching, not just a beach break with a court nearby, so each addition strengthens the same core offer rather than diluting it.

Where you can book it

Active Away runs bookings through its own website rather than a marketplace or agent, which fits the company's dedicated, sport-first destination model rather than a mass market product. There is no indication the business sells through Amazon or a similar retail channel, which makes sense for a holiday operator rather than a physical product company.

Where things stand now

Active Away pitched in series 14 for 25,000 pounds at 20 percent, secured that full amount from Peter Jones on those terms, with the equity later stepping down to 15 percent, and has spent the years since expanding from tennis holidays into padel, pickleball and skiing. That is a company using its Dragons' Den capital and connections to genuinely grow its offer, not just tread water.

If you were wondering whether the tennis holiday business made it, it did, and it now covers a lot more ground than just the court.

Where to buy Active Away

Still selling as of 27 March 2026. Check today's price and availability.

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See the full Active Away deal breakdown and term sheet →