ClimbCo Group was built from the grit, heart, and relentless drive of our founder, Kelly Soohoo—a climber, builder, and entrepreneur who walked away from a high-powered career to start over from the ground up.

Kelly grew up in Los Angeles and experienced loss early—his mother passed away when he was just five. That loss shaped him. It gave him a deep sense of responsibility to take care of others, which led him to fight for affordable housing, voter rights, and social causes that helped protect his neighbors from being pushed out by development.

But his heart was always in the mountains. As a kid, his father took the family on countless trips to the Sierra Nevada and the Pacific Northwest. His dad was a climber, a runner, a community organizer, and a businessman with deep roots in Asia. That combination of grit, service, and entrepreneurship became Kelly’s blueprint.

After 13 years on Wall Street in the fast-paced world of institutional and algorithmic trading, Kelly made a drastic decision. In 2015, he left behind New York and LA in search of something more meaningful: a life of adventure, purpose, and personal challenge. He pushed himself to become an ultramarathoner and mountaineer, summiting Gasherbrum II, Aconcagua, Denali, Mt. Rainier, and more—many of them solo. He earned certifications as an AMGA instructor and Wilderness EMT. And through it all, he lived by a lesson his father always taught him: “Finish what you start.”

That same mindset brought him to China in 2016 while chasing a first ascent in the Eastern Tibetan Alps. Immersed in a growing climbing community, Kelly saw an opportunity to build something new. He founded ClimbCo Group in 2020, followed by Lacuna Climbing in 2022, with a mission to create world-class climbing holds and flooring for the global indoor climbing market.

Building a factory in rural China wasn’t easy. Kelly didn’t speak the language. He had no background in manufacturing. He traded a comfortable life for a simple room in a small village near Huizhou. Every day, he put in the work—learning, adapting, and solving problems one by one. It was a different kind of mountain, but he climbed it with the same determination he brought to the Karakorams.

Today, ClimbCo Group and Lacuna Climbing are trusted by climbers and gyms around the world. From local startup gyms to world-class facilities, every hold and mat we make is shaped by Kelly’s journey—from a kid in LA who turned loss into purpose, to a climber who built something lasting with his own hands.

This is our story.

It’s about perseverance, purpose, and building something real.

It’s about climbing—on and off the wall.

Join us.

Chalk up, clip in, and climb your own mountains - with gear built by people who live it.