HYROX’s founders have regained majority control of the fast-growing fitness racing brand after a consortium led by L Catterton acquired the majority stake held by Infront Sports & Media.
Infront said on Sept. 8 that it had completed the sale of its stake to the consortium, which also includes HYROX co-founders Christian Toetzke and Moritz Fürste and Silicon Valley investment firm WndrCo.
The financial terms were not disclosed. Media reports have valued HYROX at around €600 million, or roughly $700 million.
Founders Take Back Control
HYROX was founded in Germany in 2017 by Toetzke and Fürste. Its race format combines eight one-kilometre runs with eight functional workout stations, using the same structure across events globally.
Infront first invested in HYROX in 2019 and became its majority shareholder in 2022, backing the company through a period of rapid international expansion.
Infront itself is part of Dalian Wanda Group’s sports portfolio. Wanda acquired a majority stake in the Switzerland-based sports marketing company in 2015 for about €1.05 billion, before combining it with other sports assets under Wanda Sports.
Wanda remains Infront’s majority shareholder. Earlier this year, the two companies completed a strategic review of Infront and said the existing ownership structure would remain in place.
The HYROX transaction therefore marks the end of the period in which the company was controlled through Wanda-owned Infront, with majority control now returning to its German founders.
HYROX has grown sharply during Infront’s ownership. In the 2025/26 season, it staged more than 100 events across over 30 countries, attracting more than 1.4 million participants and 1.5 million spectators. That compares with around 80,000 participants in the 2022/23 season.
Infront CEO Philippe Blatter said the company decided to sell following a strategic review and viewed the new ownership structure as well suited to HYROX’s next stage of growth.
L Catterton and WndrCo Join the Shareholder Group
The deal also brings in two investors with backgrounds outside traditional sports event ownership.
L Catterton, one of the world’s largest consumer-focused investment firms, manages around $40 billion in capital and counts LVMH among its shareholders.
The firm has invested extensively in fitness and consumer brands, including Equinox, Peloton, Hydrow and Solidcore.
WndrCo was founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Sujay Jaswa. Katzenberg previously chaired Walt Disney Studios and later co-founded DreamWorks.
For L Catterton, HYROX sits at the intersection of sports participation and consumer branding. The business has expanded beyond race entry fees into training partnerships, affiliated gyms, sponsorships and related products.
Olympics and Further Expansion
HYROX’s management has already outlined several priorities under the new ownership structure.
Toetzke said the company plans to focus on bringing hybrid racing closer to Olympic recognition, expanding participation and investing in new products and services.
Will we see HYROX in the Olympics in Brisbane, Australia in 2032?
Fürste has previously said he would like to see HYROX become part of the Summer Olympics within the next decade.
Less than a decade after holding its first event in Hamburg, HYROX has developed from a German fitness race into a global mass-participation sports brand.
The main change from the transaction is therefore not simply the arrival of another private-capital investor. The founders are back in majority control, while L Catterton brings experience in scaling global consumer brands.
After years of rapid event expansion, HYROX’s next phase will increasingly depend on whether it can turn hybrid racing into a broader global sports category — and build a larger commercial ecosystem around it.
