Meet Laura: the ice bath entrepreneur whose data-driven approach won over Anthony Joshua

• Business name: Monk

• Industry: Health and wellness

• Founded in: 2021

• Top business product: Business bank account

• Key learning: “Be braver, earlier. The biggest leaps forward have always come when we backed ourselves fully.”

Monk founder Laura Fullerton is on a mission to make cold therapy as accessible as it is transformative, and she's convinced that smart technology is the key to unlocking its mainstream potential.

After experiencing the life-changing benefits of cold plunging firsthand, she spotted a glaring gap in the market: nothing combined the proven wellness benefits of cold therapy with the safety, convenience, and data tracking modern consumers expect.

Her solution? The world's first smart ice bath.

Drawing on her background as a creative at Saatchi and experience building wellness brands, Fullerton launched Monk – a tech-enabled ice bath designed to make cold therapy safe, guided, and genuinely accessible. 

Building a physical product from scratch has come with no shortage of challenges, but Monk has already won backing from elite athletes and high-profile investors — including boxing superstar Anthony Joshua — and is now carving out a name for itself in the competitive health and wellness space.

What inspired you to launch Monk, and when did the business get started? 

Pure frustration! I was the least likely person to fall in love with ice baths as I’d always despised being cold. But one plunge changed everything. It unlocked a clarity, focus, and energy I’d not experienced before. It felt amazing, and I wanted more of it. 

I plunged into frozen horse troughs, hauled endless bags of ice into my bathtub, and even ended up sick from a contaminated pond in London. That’s when the absurdity hit me: why is it so hard to do something that’s so good for my health?

The journey led me into a DIY Facebook group where over 6,000 people were risking electrocution trying to build homemade ice baths. That was my lightbulb moment: why is there nothing meeting these people’s needs? It was clear that I had to create it myself.

Before Monk I was an ex‑Saatchi creative, built and exited two small businesses, and consulted on growth and strategy in the wellness space. Monk was the natural next step: the chance to combine my obsession with wellness with my experience in building brands from scratch.

What do you love most about building and running Monk?

Seeing customers use Monk as a genuine life‑enhancing ritual is incredibly rewarding. We get messages from people saying their sleep, anxiety, recovery, or even relationships have improved. That sort of feedback never gets old. 

It’s also been exciting building something that’s both tech and tactile – a beautiful bit of hardware paired with data‑driven coaching. Plus, we’ve built a brand that people want to be part of.

How did the idea of combining cold immersion with wearable tech and coaching come about?

Cold plunging isn’t new, but it was missing measurement and guidance. I’m a data geek at heart: I love feedback loops. I didn’t just want a tub, I wanted to track progress and feel confident that what I was doing was actually working.

That’s why we designed Monk to integrate with wearables like WHOOP and Oura, and built an app that offers guided plunges, breathwork, and acclimatisation programmes.

What kind of people are drawn to Monk, and what feedback do you get?

We attract everyone from elite athletes and biohackers to high‑performing CEOs and midlife women looking for better sleep and resilience. What they all have in common is the belief that embracing discomfort is the fastest path to growth and happiness. 

What have been the biggest challenges and successes since launching?

The biggest challenge was building bespoke, pioneering hardware. The phrase “hardware is hard” is true – timelines tripled, costs doubled, and we had to bring in seriously smart people to get it right.

But those challenges have paid off. One of my proudest moments was announcing Anthony Joshua as an investor and ambassador. Having someone of his calibre validate what we’re building was surreal. We’ve also secured backing from James Watt (ex-BrewDog) and Petteri Lahtela (Oura).

If you could do anything differently, what would it be – or what advice would you give your past self?

I’d tell myself to be braver, earlier. The biggest leaps forward have always come when we backed ourselves fully, whether that was doubling down on R&D, pushing into new markets, or saying yes to partnerships that felt slightly terrifying at the time.

I’d hire for experience earlier. In the early days, I tried to figure too much out myself – especially on the hardware and manufacturing side. Bringing in experts sooner who’d already solved the problems we were going to face would have saved time, money, and stress. I thought we couldn’t afford them, but there’s always a creative deal or interesting structure to be made. 

Have any financial products been useful in supporting Monk’s growth – such as loans, credit cards, insurance, savings accounts etc?

Yes – we’ve used R&D tax credits and Shopify Credit. Hardware is capital intensive, and as an early stage startup going through product development without 12 months of trading history, traditional financing options were limited, so raising over £2 million from individual investors was critical to fund product development. 

On a more day‑to‑day level, having a dedicated business bank account has been key for managing cash flow, keeping personal and business expenses separate, and keeping separate pots to shield investment funds and planning ahead for tax liabilities. 

On the consumer side, we’ve just rolled out 0% finance for our customers, which is really exciting and lowers the barrier to purchase. Because of our premium price point, we had to go through a long process in order to offer regulated finance via the FCA.

What’s next for Monk?

The next 12 months will be huge. We’re doubling down on the UK market, as well as launching in the Middle East and kicking off some big partnerships. 

In the next 3-5 years, I see Monk being at the heart of a cultural shift, where cold exposure is as mainstream as meditation is today; where people choose a plunge over a coffee break, and sauna‑and‑plunge parties replace boozy nights out. 

What advice would you give to someone thinking about starting a business for the first time?

Your network is everything, and you need three types of people: 

• Find people who are five years ahead of you and get them to be your advisors, as they’ve already navigated what you’re going through and will save you from making painful mistakes. 

• You also need stretch mentors: people whose success feels almost untouchable, but they’ll inspire you to think bigger.

• And you need a peer group who get it – fellow founders who are in the trenches with you. They remind you you’re not crazy, and that you’re not alone.

And, most importantly, don’t just build a product – build a brand. The tech gets you in the door, but the story, the movement, the emotion, that’s what people buy into and stay for.

This case study is for informational purposes only and is not intended as financial or professional advice. The results described are specific to the individual's personal experience, so please consult with a qualified professional if you need financial advice.