Jenny Liu isn't just moving on from running celebrity hotspot Dogpound - she's betting $5 million that wellness is venture capital's next breakout category. The former CEO just closed Crush It Ventures, a new early-stage fund targeting underrepresented founders building everything from mental health apps to boutique fitness studios. Liu told TechCrunch she's seen firsthand how women and minority founders in wellness struggle to access founder networks - and she's out to change that.
Jenny Liu spent a decade inside one of fitness's most exclusive brands, rising from CFO to CEO of Dogpound, the New York gym where celebrities pay premium rates to sweat alongside other A-listers. But the access she gained wasn't just to boldface names - it was to a wave of wellness entrepreneurs testing products, building communities, and hitting the same funding wall.
Now she's doing something about it. On Thursday, Liu announced the final close of Crush It Ventures, a $5 million Fund I dedicated to wellness startups, with a specific focus on backing women and minority founders who've been systematically locked out of venture networks. It's a solo GP bet that the sector's explosive growth isn't slowing down - and that the best founders aren't getting funded.
"I was surrounded by wellness founders at my local gym who loved testing new products and building community," Liu told TechCrunch. "But I also realized that many of these founders, especially women and minorities, were struggling to fund their ideas due to limited access to founder networks."
The timing looks smart. Wellness has become Gen Z's obsession - from boutique gyms to run clubs to mental health apps. A McKinsey study found that Americans spend over $500 billion annually on wellness, with Gen Z accounting for 41% of that spending despite making up just 36% of the adult population. Compare that to adults 58 and older, who represent 35% of the population but drive only 28% of wellness spending.
