Go to any run membership on the earth and there’s 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 operating increase, it makes Strava’s lack of any fashionable, in-app coaching plans a curious and obvious omission. Or, at the least, it was till right now as Strava is buying Runna.
For many who don’t torture themselves with a 6AM every day run, that is huge information — even when the businesses are retaining mum on the deal’s monetary particulars. Strava is probably the most well-known health social media app available on the market. In the meantime, Runna burst onto the scene in 2021 and has shortly 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 at present hiring roughly 50 roles to increase the product and tech. Peruse operating subreddits or RunTok, and also you’ll invariably see somebody asking about or recommending the app.
The deal looks as if a win-win for Strava and Runna. Strava will get to shore up one in every of its greatest weaknesses — the shortage of operating coaching plans. For Runna, it will get entry to one of many largest on-line operating 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 occasionally,” 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 understand that, because it associated to runners, that steerage was coaching plans.”
There’ll be a brief wait earlier than Strava and Runna customers see modifications from the acquisition.
“Successfully, nothing modifications for the person out of the gate. Our plan with this acquisition is to speculate additional into rising the Runna app, spend money on the Runna workforce, after which proceed to function them as impartial however in an built-in style,” Martin says, including that when the deal is absolutely wrapped, customers can count on to start out seeing modifications 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 and so they need to see what run they’re doing right now. That sits in Runna, after which they need to go discover a route for that run — that sits in Strava. Then, if they need dwell teaching, that’s on Runna after which Strava frankly has higher tech than us for recording in your cellphone. In the intervening time, the person sort of will get handed off various occasions.”
“…I genuinely consider that is a tremendous factor for all customers. I’m pleased 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 prices $79.99 a 12 months for premium options, whereas Runna prices $119.99 yearly. Whereas Runna at present makes use of Strava’s third-party API, till the main points are hammered out, customers will nonetheless have to subscribe to each companies 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 better Athletics, a prehab and harm prevention app, than when it acquired FATMAP, a 3D-mapping platform. With a Strava subscription, Get better Athletics is actually a free perk however features as a separate app. FATMAP’s app, nonetheless, was retired in late 2024 and its tech/options had been integrated into Strava.
Subscriptions will likely be a thorny challenge 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 likely to react badly to any modifications in subscriptions or smaller manufacturers getting wolfed up by larger ones. Working example, in 2023, Strava hiked up subscription costs in a messy rollout that left customers indignant and confused. You solely want to take a look at the response to Garmin’s current subscription launch to know the Strava-Runna information could not go over properly with some customers — a reality Martin and Maskell are properly conscious of.
“We’ve received fairly an lively Reddit group, and I do know there’s in all probability fairly a big overlap between them and the sturdy voices within the remark part,” says Maskell. “We attempt to be very clear and open with them, and I genuinely consider that is a tremendous factor for all customers. I’m pleased 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 development throughout a interval resembling this, but it surely’s so clearly the correct factor to do,” Martin says, referring to the present unsure financial local weather. “That is very a lot a development and funding play. This isn’t an effectivity play.”
