AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, connected fitness startup GROWL emerged from stealth to unveil a groundbreaking product: a boxing bag transformed into a personal, at-home boxing & fitness coach. The product goes beyond traditional fitness devices, offering an immersive, gamified and AI-enabled experience designed for the whole family. GROWL’s product reveal is backed by $4.75M in seed funding from a notable group of investors, including lead investor Skip Capital, along with Kima Ventures, Teampact Ventures, and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ciryl Gane. With its innovative approach, GROWL enters the $322B global fitness industry, targeting the $110B U.S. fitness market, which is growing at approximately 7% annually amid increasing demand for premium health and fitness solutions.
Purpose-built with AI-capabilities, GROWL delivers a high-intensity, immersive boxing and fitness experience directly into the home. Equipped with high-resolution projection and edge-AI computing, GROWL offers a life-sized, interactive coach that feels like having a personal trainer right by your side. Multi-camera 3D motion tracking captures users’ every move, delivering real-time, personalized feedback, while infrared time-of-flight sensors transform the bag’s surface into a responsive touch interface that adapts instantly to every punch. Moreover, its sleek, wall-mounted design is as compact as a wall shelf, allowing GROWL to fit seamlessly into the home.
Designed for the whole family, GROWL offers a wide range of workouts for all fitness goals, skill levels and ages. From technical boxing and strength training to yoga and flexibility exercises, GROWL adapts to every mood and ambition. Adam Cook, Investment Partner at Skip Capital, shares, “The versatility of GROWL is what convinced us to invest: it goes far beyond boxing, evolving into a complete, immersive at-home fitness experience, with limitless possibilities for future content and workouts - whether for adults, kids or anyone in between.”
Core Product Features
- Life-Sized Interactive Coach – GROWL brings a full-sized coach to life into your home, offering the guidance, motivation and energy of having a personal trainer right by your side.
- Authentic Resistance – GROWL replicates the resistance of a heavy bag, enabling users to harness the raw power of boxing for a full-body, high-intensity cardio and strength workout every time.
- Unreal Engine-Powered Gaming – GROWL’s immersive gaming experience lets users compete and fight through electrifying content, developed entirely in Unreal Engine.
- AI-Driven Real-Time Feedback – With multi-camera 3D motion tracking and edge-AI computing, GROWL provides real-time, personalized insights to sharpen your form and technique with every round.
- Family-Friendly Workouts – GROWL offers workouts for ages 10 and up, bringing everyone—kids, teens and adults—together to train solo or side-by-side, whatever their age, skill level or fitness goal.
With its unique integration of Unreal Engine, GROWL creates a fitness experience that captivates users, making workouts feel more like gameplay. Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ciryl Gane describes it best: “GROWL is something else entirely. Every session feels like a game, drawing you back for more. It makes boxing fun and accessible without sacrificing any of the thrill.”
See the GROWL experience in video here.
Flipping the Script on Connected Fitness
Supported by visionary investors, including lead investor Skip Capital (the private fund of Atlassian co-founder, Scott Farquhar and Kim Jackson) and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ciryl Gane, GROWL set out to create something radically different from the start, flipping the script on a connected fitness industry dominated by cycling, strength and rowing options.
Sam Bowen, former VP of Hardware Engineering at Amazon, Peloton and Tonal, and one of GROWL’s Senior Advisors, says: “GROWL has succeeded in blending both cardio and strength training in a way that no one else has been able to accomplish. While Peloton has set the standard for engaging and challenging cardio workouts, and Tonal offers robust strength training, GROWL stands out by combining both into an intense, fun and engaging workout experience that feels remarkably immersive and realistic.”
Bringing the Transformative Power of Boxing Home
GROWL enters the market as boxing surges in popularity. Over the last few years, fitness boxing has redefined the sport’s image, shedding its niche, intimidating and aggressive associations to become one of the most accessible and empowering workouts available, with endorsements from countless A-list celebrities. Today, boxing ranks as the #1 fitness discipline Americans ages 18-45 want to try, and fitness boxing has become the fastest-growing boutique fitness concept in the U.S. Co-founder & CTO Nicolas de Maubeuge says, “Boxing holds universal potential—if you make it fun and accessible. It’s no surprise that 70% of clients of upscale boxing studios are women. With GROWL, we are combining this momentum with the latest sensor-perception and rendering technologies to create a powerful and accessible boxing and fitness experience, for everyone at home.”
For CEO & Co-founder Léo Desrumaux, boxing is more than a workout; it’s a force for building confidence, resilience and unwavering focus. Léo discovered this at 16, when boxing helped him integrate into a new country and transition from a troubled teenager to a successful entrepreneur. “I found myself through combat sports and boxing. Suddenly, I realized I wasn’t made out of glass - that I could take a punch but also hit back. I discovered my potential and, more importantly, learned the tools to execute on that potential—a powerful gift for any young person. There’s a saying, ‘Once you’ve boxed, everything else in life is easy.’ That’s the power we’re bringing into homes with GROWL.”
Visually Captivating Storytelling
"The first impression users get from discovering GROWL is extremely strong visually. The life-size coach, locking eyes with you, captivates you to your core. This gives GROWL the unique power to create engaging, content-driven storytelling on social media and forge authentic creator partnerships, amplifying its message and reach", says Becca Valle, Senior Advisor to GROWL and former Marketing Leader at Aescape, New York Knicks and Meta.
GROWL is positioned at the higher end of connected fitness equipment, following the likes of Tonal among others. The product is priced at an anticipated $150/month on a 48-month plan or $190 on a 36-month plan (hardware and subscription included), for unlimited family access. With most connected fitness users spreading the upfront hardware cost using BNPL, GROWL delivers a premium product and experience at an accessible monthly price.
Pre-sales for GROWL are expected to open in April 2025. To learn more, visit: http://joingrowl.com/.
About GROWL
GROWL is a connected fitness company redefining at-home workouts with the world’s first life-sized, interactive boxing and fitness coach, bringing the transformative power of boxing to everyone at home. Founded in 2022 by Léo Desrumaux and Nicolas de Maubeuge, and based in Austin and Paris, GROWL combines immersive projection, precision sensors, advanced AI and cutting-edge gaming technology to deliver a full-body, high-intensity workout that is both thrilling and accessible; in a form factor compact enough to fit seamlessly into any home. Equipped with AI-powered, real-time feedback, GROWL offers an authentic boxing and fitness experience that feels like having a personal coach right by your side.
Supported by a team of Senior Advisors from industry leaders like Peloton, Fitbit, Amazon, Meta and Tonal, GROWL is backed by lead investor Skip Capital, Kima Ventures, Teampact Ventures, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ciryl Gane, notable founders including Jonathan Cherki (Contentsquare), Charles Gorintin (Alan), Nicolas Béraud (BetClic) and Jean Lafleur (Airbyte). GROWL’s vision is simple yet bold: to pioneer an entirely new fitness category that combines cardio, strength and immersive gamification into one powerful, family-friendly experience.
For more information, visit http://joingrowl.com/.
Contact
press@joingrowl.com
