According to industry insiders, well-known private equity fund L Catterton is in exclusive negotiations to acquire a substantial stake in mass-participation fitness brand HYROX from Swiss sports media group Infront Sports & Media, a subsidiary of Wanda Sports.
Although the specific transaction amount has not yet been disclosed, reports indicate that the deal strongly reflects HYROX’s extremely rapid commercial growth momentum, with its estimated revenue for 2026 expected to exceed 200 million euros. This competition format, which combines running with functional workout stations, has grown from 650 participants at its inaugural event in 2018 to more than 425,000 athletes across 30 countries in the 2024/25 season.
The deal and the HYROX Valuation it Implies
No value has been disclosed. Sky News cites uncorroborated figures of approximately €140m in revenue and around €30m in EBITDA for 2025, with a margin of about 20%. Revenue has grown at 87% pa from 2023 revenues, in the region of €40m. At a typical private equity multiple of 20 to 30 times EBITDA, HYROX is worth an estimated €700m to €1bn, before any growth premium.
L Catterton is a serious investor in the space, backing Peloton in 2015 and buying the Pilates business Solidcore at a $700m valuation in 2024. Its money comes from Bernard Arnault’s family office, the same source behind Louis Vuitton, Dior and Moët Hennessy. The seller is Infront Sports and Media, the Swiss group run by Philippe Blatter, nephew of the former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, which has owned HYROX since 2019 and took a majority stake in 2022. Whether Infront retains an interest after the deal is unclear.
What this means for HYROX
- More events, sooner. Buenos Aires, Stockholm, Jakarta, Sydney and Birmingham are already on the calendar. Private equity capital inevitably shortens the timeline for the rest.
- Participant numbers increase with the number of events. HYROX projects 90,000 competitors this year.
- Broadcast and spectator revenue become the priority. Entry fees do not build a billion-euro company on their own.
- Entry fees go up. Similar endurance properties such as Ironman have generally pushed pricing higher as they scaled under institutional ownership.
What this means for Amazfit
Amazfit holds a three-year global exclusive signed in April 2026. It covers smartwatches, rings, cameras, glasses, straps, app integrations and access to the HYROX 365 gym and coaching network. No competing wearable brand can enter the HYROX ecosystem for the term of that deal.
Amazfit fixed those terms by the time HYROX was already a €140m business. The investment effectively endorses that valuation range and confirms that HYROX is now being viewed as a major global fitness property.
Amazfit gets the marketing benefit of an indirect LVMH association at no additional cost. Being the exclusive wearable partner of a property backed by the firm behind Louis Vuitton is a different commercial proposition from being the partner of a Swiss-owned indoor race series.
Activation capacity is the open question. Zepp Health, Amazfit’s parent, posted a $19.6m net loss on $51.5m revenue in Q1 2026. I have written before about whether the company can fund a partnership of this scale. The strategic logic holds; only time will tell if the company can follow it through.
Amazfit locked in its exclusive two months ago, when HYROX was already worth €700m on any reasonable measure. That deal looks better today than it did in April. For the person paying to run eight kilometres and push a sled across a conference centre floor, the implications of the growth may hit them in the pocket the hardest.
Why is Hyrox’s acquisition case worth paying attention to?
This is one of the biggest M&A signals in the fitness industry in 2026. L Catterton (with over $34 billion in assets under management) has previously invested in fitness brands such as Solidcore. If it successfully acquires Hyrox, it would mark a new stage in the PE capitalization of hybrid fitness event IP. For equipment manufacturers, the capital consolidation of event IP means the bar for partnerships on event-designated equipment and wearables will be higher.
No deal value has been disclosed. Sky News cites uncorroborated 2025 figures of around €140m revenue and €30m EBITDA. At a typical private equity multiple of 20 to 30 times EBITDA, that implies an estimated €700m to €1bn. The implied valuation could exceed €1bn if a buyer pays a premium for future growth.
No. Amazfit signed a three-year global exclusive for wearables in April 2026. The deal terms are fixed, so HYROX’s accelerated growth under new ownership is incremental upside for Amazfit at no extra cost.
