Revenue grew strongly: Fitness service Strava prepares for IPO

US fitness service Strava is aiming for an IPO, with stock trading potentially beginning as early as spring. This is reported by the US tech magazine The Information, which states that the major US bank Goldman Sachs is set to organize the IPO. Strava's business has reportedly grown by 50 percent year on year recently, and the company is also profitable. With annual revenues of less than 500 million US dollars, the company is comparatively small, and going public could offer long-term investors the opportunity to sell their shares profitably. According to The Information, the company was most recently valued at a total of 2.2 billion US dollars.

Increasingly adding social features

Strava was founded in 2009; initially, the in-house app primarily focused on making sports activity data publicly viewable. During the Corona pandemic, the application became increasingly social, and now accounts can follow each other and rate shared activities. For two years now, there has also been a messenger that enables direct messages and group chats. In the fall, the company caused a stir with a patent infringement lawsuit against Garmin. Had the manufacturer been forced to cease sales of its fitness trackers as demanded, Strava would have harmed itself, as these provide the data for its app. However, Strava quickly withdrew the lawsuit.

Strava has 150 million users in more than 185 countries, the service states on its homepage. The Information now reminds us that Strava is just one of several internet companies that would go public after more than a decade. Their fates have varied greatly. While Reddit's stock price has risen sharply since its IPO in 2024, Klarna and StubHub have seen significant declines. The messaging platform Discord is currently also preparing for an IPO.

(mho)