Strava Runna: Popular sport tracking platform buys coaching aid exercise app Runna - what changes will users see?

Runna burst onto the scene in 2021 and has quickly climbed the app charts for folks in need of 5K, 10K, or marathon training plans. Since launch, it’s secured an additional $6.3 million in funding for its AI-powered run coaching, with users spanning 180 countries.

The deal seems like a win-win for Strava and Runna. Strava gets to shore up one of its biggest weaknesses — the lack of running training plans. For Runna, it gets access to one of the largest online running communities and Strava’s coffers.

Strava CEO Michael Martin says: “For a while, Strava had created static, document-based plans for runners but the reality is those were used very, very infrequently. We came to realize that, as it related to runners, that guidance was training plans.

“Effectively, nothing changes for the user out of the gate. Our plan with this acquisition is to invest further into growing the Runna app, invest in the Runna team, and then continue to operate them as independent but in an integrated fashion”. He added that once the deal is fully wrapped, users can expect to start seeing changes in the coming weeks and months.

Runna cofounder and CEO Dom Maskell said: “The ambition is to do things where it makes sense. It’s like, the user comes on and they want to see what run they’re doing today. That sits in Runna, and then they want to go find a route for that run — that sits in Strava. Then, if they want live coaching, that’s on Runna and then Strava frankly has better tech than us for recording on your phone. At the moment, the user kind of gets passed off quite a lot of times.”