Founder: Lorna Borenstein (CEO)
Launched: 2012
Headquarters: San Jose, California
Funding: $22.5 million
Source: Grokker
Lorna Borenstein, founder and CEO of Grokker
This on-demand video wellness service brings the best of exercise, meditation and healthy cooking videos right to your TV, laptop or phone. The San Jose, California-based company was started by Lorna Borenstein in 2012 after she couldn't find any good yoga or fitness videos to use while on vacation with her husband and three children. Before starting Grokker — the name was inspired by the classic novel Stranger in a Strange Land, where to "Grok" means to understand something thoroughly — Borenstein was president of Move, the online real estate site. She also held a number of executive positions at Yahoo.
For $14.99 a month, subscribers to Grokker can choose from thousands of videos featuring instructors leading yoga, cardio, stretching and balance, meditation and healthy-cooking classes. Users can choose the level they want (beginner or advanced, for instance) and sort the videos by duration. They can also rent as many as they want in a given month. The service is available online as well as video on demand (VOD) through Comcast (the parent company of CNBC), Amazon Prime and Apple TV.
Grokker has also been signing up corporate clients such as Pinterest, LinkedIn and SurveyMonkey, who offer the service to their employees as a health-and-wellness benefit. The company has raised $22.5 million in venture funding from Khosla Ventures, SV Angel, First Round Capital, Aspect Ventures, Interwest Partners, Comcast and Correlation Ventures.
