ADAM BLASBERG MAY 2021 BCBUSINESS 35
A
s principal of the
Vancouver-based
investment firm that
bears his name, Praveen Varsh-
ney does a fair amount of real
estate research. "One of the
things we talk about in real
estate is the highest net use of
the land and how you achieve
that," he explains.
That also applies seamlessly
to his latest hobby, pickleball.
Varshney picked up the sport
(essentially a smaller-scale
version of tennis, played with
a Wiffle ball) a couple of years
ago as something he could do
with his wife. But he started
noticing how, in places with
four tennis courts where one
had been converted into a
pickleball area, the theory of
the highest net use became
very obvious.
"There would be 16 people
playing pickleball and a wait-
list of people on the bench,"
Varshney says. "On the other
three courts, one tennis court
is empty; the other two have
two singles games going on.
So look at that use of the real
estate, right?"
Varshney, who played ten-
nis competitively growing up,
now prefers pickleball over his
childhood sport, both for its
"longer, faster rallies" and be-
cause he sees it as a much more
welcoming activity. "The gap
between good and bad tennis
players is really big," he says.
"But the gap in pickleball is a
lot more compressed. So you
can pretty much play and have
a rally with anybody."
Shortly after falling in love
with the game and introducing
Investor Praveen Varshney is putting his heart
(and body) into pickleball
by Nathan Caddell
W E E K E N D WA R R IOR
WARRIOR
SPOTLIGHT
Varshney Capital Corp. may
be a small Vancouver family
office of about 10 people,
but its reach stretches
across the city. The firm
invests in social-impact
companies big and small,
from 300-employee fintech
outfit Mogo and publicly
traded coffee pod producer
Nexe Innovations to
Montessori-inspired cook-
ing school Little Kitchen
Academy. Principal Praveen
Varshney is a co-founder of
those businesses and many
others. "The goal is to invest
in these companies that
grow and have a bunch of
people at their offices," he
says. "They have to have a
purpose behind it; it can't be
just to make money."
–N.C.
QUITE A PICKLE
Varshney, who has always
loved racquet sports, now
plays pickleball exclusively
Straight Ballin'
O FF
T H E
C LO C K
(
quality time
)
