TRX, San Francisco, is recapitalizing its business through a strategic growth capital investment from private equity firm Equity38, Newport Beach, California, the company announced on Jan. 16.
Equity38 structured its investment as a management buyout of TRX’s previous investors, although the sum of the transaction was not publicly disclosed. The recapitalization is aimed at maintaining TRX’s existing infrastructure, while lending TRX the resources to further develop its brand and footprint.
"I couldn’t be more excited to welcome the Equity38 team into the TRX family,” TRX CEO and founder Randy Hetrick said in a media release. “This partnership came together in the most organic and serendipitous way imaginable. I asked a longtime industry friend, [Brent] Leffel, to lend me his expertise to help kickstart a growth initiative we’d been struggling to launch in 2017. … In addition to arming TRX with a war chest of growth capital, Equity38 brings deep experience in our industry and their active involvement in the business and stewardship will be an important part of our next chapter.”
Equity38 is a newly founded consumer-focused private equity firm with offices in Newport Beach and Atlanta. Founders Brent Leffel and David Cox have previously worked as investors, executives and board directors with fitness brands such as New Evolution Ventures, Orangetheory Fitness, UFC Gym, Crunch Fitness and Barry’s Bootcamp.
“I got to know Randy early in my travels through the fitness industry, and I’ve always admired what he has accomplished as an entrepreneur,” Leffel said in the release. “Randy and his team have built the world’s premier training and education company with a foundation in science-based movement benefiting everyone from novice fitness participants to professional athletes. … Despite its significant growth and global impact, TRX has only begun to scratch the surface of what it can become, and we are excited to lock arms with Randy and his team to realize the brand’s full potential.”
TRX has 100 employees and 350 certified master instructors. It has qualified more than 300,000 trainers since 2009.