L Catterton Eyes Investment in Hyrox
According to a report by UK's Sky News, LVMH Group's private equity fund L Catterton is in exclusive equity investment talks with fitness event brand Hyrox.
A source familiar with the matter said that L Catterton and Hyrox's current owner, Swiss sports marketing group Infront Sports & Media, have been in discussions for quite some time, and a deal is expected to be reached in the coming weeks. The specific amount of the transaction is not yet known.
Hyrox is an indoor fitness running event that has become extremely popular in European and American markets in recent years. It made its debut in mainland China in November 2024, with the first event held at the National Agricultural Exhibition Center in Beijing. This year, Hyrox China has 10 events, held in cities including Beijing, Wuhan, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Sanya. Hyrox's popularity in China has also reached new heights this year, becoming a hot topic on social media.
Hyrox was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. Hyrox fitness race competitions are typically held in large indoor exhibition halls. The race consists of eight 1-kilometer running loops, with functional exercises interspersed between each loop, such as sled pushes, farmer's carries, and sandbag lunges. To cater to different types of participants, Hyrox offers four categories: Open, Pro, Doubles, and Relay.
Hyrox's three founders are: event organization and operations expert Christian Toetzke, former German Olympic hockey champion Moritz Furste, and marketing expert Michael Trautmann.
Above: Moritz Furste (left) and Christian Toetzke (right)
Currently, Christian Toetzke and Moritz Furste are still responsible for most of the company's business decisions, while Michael Trautmann retains only the founder title and shares, not participating in the company's actual operations.
The idea for Hyrox came from Christian Toetzke, who founded sports marketing agency Upsolut Sports AG in 1995. The company was later acquired by French media giant Lagardere Sports, and as part of the deal, he briefly served as the group's CEO, participating in the planning and operation of major events such as golf championships, tennis tournaments, and football friendlies. Later, Toetzke also held executive positions at The IRONMAN Group, organizing mass endurance events like triathlons, marathons, and cycling events worldwide.
Christian Toetzke personally loves the concept of marathon races—allowing top athletes and ordinary people to undergo the same training on the same day and on the same course. However, he also found that endurance races like marathons rarely exercise the upper body, and about 200 million people go to the gym every day, yet there is no race truly based on what most people do in the gym. So he decided to combine these elements to create Hyrox, holding the first competition in 2018.
In the 2025 season, Hyrox held nearly 100 events globally, attracting over 650,000 participants. According to Moritz Furste, the company's revenue in 2025 was approximately $130 million, and it is expected to exceed $220 million in 2026, with over 1.3 million participants.
Hyrox has not accepted much external funding during its development. The only publicly known major external financing was in 2019, when Infront Sports & Media made a strategic investment in the company, and later in 2022, Infront increased its stake to become the majority shareholder.
In terms of brand sponsorship, German sportswear giant PUMA is the title sponsor of Hyrox events, and Chinese automotive brand BYD is the Asia-Pacific automotive partner, holding the title rights for events in the region.
| Sources: Sky News, Forbes, athletechnews, Hyrox official
| Image source: Hyrox official social media