Go to any run membership on the earth and there’s a great probability that everybody there has two issues: a Garmin smartwatch to trace their run and a Strava account to brag about it. Given the worldwide working increase, it makes Strava’s lack of any trendy, in-app coaching plans a curious and obvious omission. Or, not less than, it was till at present as Strava is buying Runna.
For individuals who don’t torture themselves with a 6AM every day run, that is massive information — even when the businesses are maintaining mum on the deal’s monetary particulars. Strava is essentially the most well-known health social media app available on the market. In the meantime, Runna burst onto the scene in 2021 and has rapidly climbed the app charts for people in want of 5K, 10K, or marathon coaching plans. Since launch, it’s secured an extra $6.3 million in funding for its AI-powered run teaching, with customers spanning 180 nations. In 2024, Runna additionally tripled the dimensions of its workforce and is presently hiring roughly 50 roles to increase the product and tech. Peruse working subreddits or RunTok, and also you’ll invariably see somebody asking about or recommending the app.
The deal looks like a win-win for Strava and Runna. Strava will get to shore up certainly one of its largest weaknesses — the shortage of working coaching plans. For Runna, it will get entry to one of many largest on-line working communities and Strava’s coffers.
“For some time, Strava had created static, document-based plans for runners however the actuality is these had been used very, very sometimes,” Strava CEO Michael Martin says. Based on the corporate’s analysis, the shortage of steerage was a ache level for longtime customers and newcomers to the app. “We got here to comprehend that, because it associated to runners, that steerage was coaching plans.”
There’ll be a brief wait earlier than Strava and Runna customers see adjustments from the acquisition.
“Successfully, nothing adjustments for the person out of the gate. Our plan with this acquisition is to speculate additional into rising the Runna app, put money into the Runna workforce, after which proceed to function them as impartial however in an built-in vogue,” Martin says, including that when the deal is absolutely wrapped, customers can anticipate to start out seeing adjustments within the coming weeks and months.
“The ambition is to do issues the place it is sensible,” provides Runna cofounder and CEO Dom Maskell, who notes a extra seamless integration between the 2 apps would assist create a smoother person expertise. “It’s like, the person comes on they usually wish to see what run they’re doing at present. That sits in Runna, after which they wish to go discover a route for that run — that sits in Strava. Then, if they need reside teaching, that’s on Runna after which Strava frankly has higher tech than us for recording in your cellphone. In the mean time, the person sort of will get handed off numerous occasions.”
“…I genuinely imagine that is an incredible factor for all customers. I’m glad to inform everybody about it and sit on Reddit for the entire day to reply everybody’s questions.”
One factor that hasn’t been determined but is how subscriptions will work. Strava has a free tier however fees $79.99 a 12 months for premium options, whereas Runna prices $119.99 yearly. Whereas Runna presently makes use of Strava’s third-party API, till the main points are hammered out, customers will nonetheless have to subscribe to each providers to get the total vary of options. When pressed additional on the problem, Martin says he envisions the Runna acquisition to be extra akin to when the corporate purchased Get well Athletics, a prehab and harm prevention app, than when it acquired FATMAP, a 3D-mapping platform. With a Strava subscription, Get well Athletics is basically a free perk however features as a separate app. FATMAP’s app, nonetheless, was retired in late 2024 and its tech/options had been included into Strava.
Subscriptions can be a thorny concern for each Strava and Runna customers. Over the previous few years, the r/Strava subreddit has been rife with accusations of enshittification, with many directing their ire towards the app paywalling options. Usually, customers are inclined to react badly to any adjustments in subscriptions or smaller manufacturers getting wolfed up by greater ones. Living proof, in 2023, Strava hiked up subscription costs in a messy rollout that left customers offended and confused. You solely want to have a look at the response to Garmin’s current subscription launch to know the Strava-Runna information could not go over effectively with some customers — a reality Martin and Maskell are effectively conscious of.
“We’ve obtained fairly an lively Reddit neighborhood, and I do know there’s most likely fairly a big overlap between them and the robust voices within the remark part,” says Maskell. “We attempt to be very clear and open with them, and I genuinely imagine that is an incredible factor for all customers. I’m glad to inform everybody about it and sit on Reddit for the entire day to reply everybody’s questions.”
“I’d be mendacity to not say it’s a problem to consider investing in progress throughout a interval similar to this, however it’s so clearly the proper factor to do,” Martin says, referring to the present unsure financial local weather. “That is very a lot a progress and funding play. This isn’t an effectivity play.”