NOX

Heritage

NOX was founded in Barcelona in 2008 by Jesús Ballvé, a former swimmer, as a brand made only for padel. Its trading company is JJ Ballvé Sports S.L., and its head office is now in Sant Joan Despí, on the south-western edge of Barcelona. The company motto, used across its site and packaging, is "Makes you improve".

The first figure to carry the brand on the professional tour was the Argentine Miguel Lamperti, who moved from Argentina to Spain to compete and has used NOX equipment since 2008. NOX treats 2010 as the year of his first major contract. His ML10 range, led by the ML10 Pro Cup, became one of the brand's best-known racket families and is still listed by NOX as one of its top three sellers.

In 2017 NOX signed Agustín Tapia, then 17, and helped him move from Catamarca in Argentina to Spain to train with coach Pablo Crosetti. According to NOX, he reached the quarter-finals of his first professional tournament, and in September 2019 he won the Madrid Master, which NOX describes as making him the youngest player in the sport's history to win a tournament and be named MVP of the final. NOX renewed his contract in February 2020 and again in April 2024, the latest deal running to 2028 and covering rackets, clothing and footwear.

Before the pandemic NOX had sales of around 3.5 million euros. Lockdown rules in Spain and Sweden, which allowed padel while many other activities were closed, pushed demand sharply upwards, and by 2022 sales had reached about 28 million euros. In 2021 the company decided to build its own factory, which opened in Paraguay in early 2023.

Also in early 2023 NOX opened the NOX Futures Academy (NFA) in Barcelona, a residential academy for young professionals that Tapia helped to found. Its early residents included Leo Augsburger and Tino Libaak, who reached the World Padel Tour La Rioja Open final in March 2023. Both later left NOX for Siux in October 2024. The NFA name lives on in a NOX racket series.

NOX has worked with other brands outside the sport. In 2022 it designed a padel collection with Zara Athleticz, the sports line of Inditex, sold in Zara stores in countries with strong padel demand, and the two brands released a second collection in 2025.

Ownership has changed twice in recent years. In February 2024 the Spanish private equity firm GPF took a controlling stake, with Jesús Ballvé staying on as CEO. In October 2025 the British private equity firm Oakley Capital bought the majority stake from GPF through its Origin Fund II. At that point NOX reported sales of more than 400,000 rackets a year in over 80 countries, an 11 per cent share of global racket sales and annual growth of more than 50 per cent over four years. Oakley said it would support expansion in the United States and Asia, a wider product range and a move into pickleball.

NOX has a specific focus on the United Kingdom. In 2023 it signed the British number one Tia Norton and Louie Harris, then British number three, and in 2026 it was the official racket of the London Premier Padel P1, for which it made a special edition of the AT10 Luxury Genius 18K Alum in British Racing Green and ran a stand in the fan zone.

Today the range runs from entry-level and junior rackets through the Advance, Classic, Ultralight, NFA, Exclusive and Luxury series to limited editions, alongside shoes (AT10, ML10 Hexa and Nerbo), clothing, bags, Nerbo balls, beach tennis and pickleball equipment. The 2027 collection, launched in September 2026 under the campaign "100% Pure Padel", introduced a Signature Series of player models, the Genius 18K Alum by Agustín Tapia, the Ventus family with Edu Alonso, Miguel Lamperti and Aranzazu Osoro, and a new VCS anti-vibration system.

In September 2026 NOX began releasing "Antes de irme" (Before I go), a documentary series following Miguel Lamperti through his final professional season, marking the end of the brand's longest player relationship.