Walla is a studio management platform purpose-built for the boutique fitness and wellness market, including yoga, pilates, barre, cycling, and similar studios. The company was co-founded in 2020 by Doug Hecht, a former executive at Mindbody, the dominant incumbent in wellness SaaS, and Laura Munkholm. Their thesis was that boutique studio owners were underserved by bloated legacy systems and needed software that was simpler, more modern, and genuinely focused on the economics of running a small studio.
The platform consolidates the operational backbone of a studio into one system: class scheduling and booking, membership and package management, integrated payments, automated client communications, marketing, and reporting. By unifying these functions, Walla helps owners reduce the tool sprawl and manual work that eats into already thin margins, while giving members a smoother booking and check-in experience.
Walla has increasingly positioned itself as an AI-powered performance engine for studios rather than just a booking tool. Its newest investment is earmarked for developing AI software that helps owners improve profitability and retention, surfacing the insights and automated workflows that a small studio team rarely has time to build themselves, such as identifying at-risk members, optimizing schedules, and driving revenue.
The company, headquartered in Encinitas, California, has raised a combined total of around $18 million. It started with a $5 million seed round led by TenOneTen Ventures and Social Leverage, raised additional seed and Series A capital reaching roughly $13 million, and in 2025 announced a further $5 million strategic investment led by Social Leverage and Ankona Capital specifically to accelerate its AI-powered studio performance software.
Walla competes against larger incumbents like Mindbody and other studio platforms, betting that its boutique focus, modern product, and AI roadmap will win owners who feel that legacy systems were never designed with their business in mind.