Catalyst Health Partners Bets the Next Big Opportunity Is the Operator

The platform is launching with 54 development territories across Bodyrok, Bunda and Sweat440, with a thesis that boutique fitness needs better operators

Catalyst Health Partners, a new venture, is betting that the next decade in fitness will be about building operators.

The new platform has launched with development rights across 54 territories under Bodyrok, Bunda and Sweat440, creating one of the largest coordinated multi-brand boutique fitness expansion efforts currently underway in the U.S. Backed by Port Street Ventures and Hurricane Capital Holdings, CHP is entering the market with a thesis that boutique fitness needs more scalable operating infrastructure.

CHP was co-founded by Paul Marcus, who previously built West Coast Fitness into one of the largest Orangetheory Fitness franchise platforms in the U.S., and Fraser Quarterman, whose background includes senior leadership roles at Barry’s and F45 Training. The pair is looking to professionalize a side of the market that has often been fragmented, even as boutique fitness has continued to grow.

Marcus said the opportunity became clear after years of operating inside the franchise system.

“There are a lot of people who are just great coaches who went off and started something, but maybe they don’t have the financial rigor as they manage the business,” Marcus told Athletech News.

The company is starting with three brands: Bodyrok, a reformer Pilates concept that blends Pilates, strength and cardio; Bunda, a lower-body-focused strength and conditioning workout built around StairMaster intervals and progressive strength training; and Sweat440, a coach-led HIIT concept with a rolling-start format that allows members to begin classes every 10 minutes.

CHP already operates two Sweat440 studios in Austin, acquired in 2025, and is building a Southern California pipeline that includes Bodyrok Costa Mesa, slated to open in August. Marcus said the company is also pursuing acquisitions inside its existing brand portfolio, particularly where buying an established studio can give CHP an immediate foothold in a priority market.

“We’re not looking for turnarounds,” Marcus said. “Culture, once set, if it’s poor, is a very difficult thing to shift.”

Instead, CHP is looking for strong studios that can benefit from a larger platform with more resources, more career paths for employees and more operational consistency, without losing the local feel that makes boutique fitness work.

CHP is entering with multiple modalities rather than one flagship concept. Quarterman said today’s fitness consumer, especially in major metro markets, is rarely loyal to a single workout type. They strength train, take Pilates, do HIIT, run, recover and move between formats depending on goals, convenience and community.

“The modern consumer does a variety of things,” Quarterman told Athletech News. “Our platform is almost like the multivitamin of fitness in that way.”

CHP is also trying to avoid chasing fitness fads. Marcus said the company is focused on modalities with long-term staying power, pointing to strength training, Pilates, low-impact conditioning and longevity-driven fitness as categories supported by consumer education rather than short-lived hype.

“There are trends and there are fads,” Marcus said. “The things that we’re doing are not novel in the sense that Pilates has obviously been around for an incredibly long time. It’s just the way they’re being delivered nowadays, and the way they’re packaged.”

Pilates has become one of boutique fitness’s most crowded categories, but CHP believes there is still room for brands that can deliver a more athletic, full-body experience and broaden the consumer base, including by bringing more men into the category.

For Marcus, Pilates’ current evolution looks less like a bubble and more like a format shift. He compared it to CorePower Yoga, which helped take yoga from a longer, more traditional practice into a more athletic, accessible studio format.

“Before that, yoga was a 90-minute practice,” Marcus said. “It was more flexibility, longer holds and poses. It was a different kind of practice. And CorePower came out and made it very athletic and moved it down to 60 minutes and made it more male-inviting.”

Marcus believes Pilates is moving in a similar direction, with room for brands that can broaden the consumer base while still delivering a serious workout.

“That’s where Pilates is going,” he said. “If we have backed the right brand, I think we can attract a lot of males, we can bring in a lot of females because we’re giving a real full-body, great workout.”

Boutique fitness may now be entering a new phase of consolidation. As costs rise and competition intensifies, smaller operators may increasingly need the support of larger platforms to keep up.

Marcus said he is already seeing signs of strain among operators that have hit their limit after opening one or two studios without the right HR, member support or management infrastructure in place.

“Members have more options than ever before,” Quarterman said. “What keeps them coming back isn’t just the workout, it’s the community, the hospitality and the consistency of the experience.”